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Uranus and Neptune in Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese

From Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia
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The two outer planets, Uranus and Neptune, were discovered much later than the five planets known in antiquity and bear names in Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese that are direct translations of the Western ones, namely:


English Uranus Neptune
Chinese characters 天王星 海王星
Chinese reading tiānwáng-xīng haǐwáng-xīng
Japanese reading tennō-sei kaiō-sei
Vietnamese Sao Thiên Vương Sao Hải Vương
Meaning King of Heaven King of the Sea

The roots used in the Vietnamese names for the planets are the same as for Chinese and Japanese.

Incidentally, the names deriving from the Five Elements were not the earliest names for the planets in Chinese. Some earlier or alternative names were:


English Mercury Venus Mars Jupiter Saturn
Current name 水 星 金星 火星 木 星 土星
Older name:

Chinese characters

辰星 太白星 熒惑 / 荧惑 歲星 / 岁星 鎮星 / 镇星
Chinese reading chénxīng taìbáixīng yínghuò suìxīng zhènxīng
Japanese reading shinsei taihakusei keiwaku saisei chinsei


Source

cjvlang.com