七

Readings

• Go-on: しち (shichi, Jōyō)^{←しち (siti, historical)}
• Kan-on: しつ (shitsu)^{←しつ (situ, historical)}
• Kun: なな (nana, 七, Jōyō)、ななつ (nanatsu, 七つ, Jōyō)、なの (nano, 七, Jōyō ^†)
• Nanori: さとる (satoru)、し (shi)、しっ (shi')、な (na)、ひち (hichi)

Compounds

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) なな [náꜜnà] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [na̠na̠]

• Audio:

  (file)

Usage notes

• In modern Japanese, Japonic なな (nana) is more common than Sinitic しち (shichi) (see Etymology 2) outside fixed compounds, which is similar to 四 (yo) but different from other numerals. The reason may be a superstitious connection to 死 (shi, “death”), or simply avoiding confusion with the similar sounding 一 (ichi) and 四 (shi).

Numeral

七(なな) • (nana) 

1. seven, 7

Noun

七(なな) • (nana) 

1. a seven
2. a gambler

Proper noun

七(なな) • (Nana) 

1. a surname

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) しち [shìchíꜜ] (Odaka – [2])^[2][1]
• IPA^(key): [ɕi̥t͡ɕi]

• Audio:

  (file)

Numeral

七(しち) • (shichi) 

1. seven, 7

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) な [náꜜ] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [na̠]

Numeral

七(な) • (na) 

1. (colloquial) seven, 7

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) チー [chíꜜì] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [t͡ɕiː]

Numeral

七(チー) • (chī) 

1. seven, 7