Names of 2 Outer Planets (original) (raw)
Uranus and Neptune
in Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese
The two outer planets, Uranus and Neptune (I've dropped Pluto), 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 |
