午

午 (Kangxi radical 24, 十+2, 4 strokes, cangjie input 人十 (OJ) or 難人十 (XOJ), four-corner 8040₀, composition ⿱𠂉十 or ⿰丿干)

• 仵 吘 𡉦 㞰 忤 汻 迕 𢨵 旿 㬳 杵 玝 𥄭 𥘪 𥾿 許(许) 啎 𨳱 年 缶 𦈢 𦬶 㷏

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 156, character 4
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 2703
• Dae Jaweon: page 354, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 406, character 1
• Unihan data for U+5348

Historical forms of the character 午
Shang	Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Pictogram (象形) – a pestle (now written 杵).

Norman (1985) proposed connection with Austroasiatic; Ferlus (2013) noted a "[g]ood correspondence" between Proto-Vietic *m-ŋəːʔ (whence Vietnamese ngựa) and Old Chinese reconstructions like *m-qʰˁaʔ (Baxter-Sagart) and *ᵀs.ŋaʔ (Ferlus). Also compare Proto-Hlai *hŋaːʔ (“horse”), Proto-Kra *ŋja C (“horse”).

Alternatively, Smith (2011) proposed 午 (OC *ŋaːʔ)'s cognacy with 啎 (OC *ŋaːs) "to meet head on" and 御 (OC *ŋas) "to meet in (battle)" and suggested that "the moon at its full phase opposes the sun directly in the sky, meaning *ŋaaʔ 午 is probably to be glossed, given *-ʔ , ‘facing stage’". Schuessler (2007) regarded 午 (OC ŋâh) "to go against" as a mere graphic variant of 啎 and thus deemed the sense "to go against" distinct from the "earthly branch" sense.

午

1. the seventh of twelve earthly branches:
   1. (historical or astrology) the seventh year of the Jovian orbital cycle
   2. (archaic) the fifth month of the Chinese traditional calendar
   3. (historical or archaic) the "Chinese" or "double hour" from 11 am to 1 pm
   4. noon (precisely)

• (Chinese earthly branches) 地支 (dìzhī); 子, 丑 (chǒu), 寅 (yín), 卯 (mǎo), 辰 (chén), 巳 (sì), 午 (wǔ), 未 (wèi), 申 (shēn), 酉 (yǒu), 戌, 亥 (hài) ^{(Category: zh:Chinese earthly branches)}

• (as an earthly branch): 地支 (dìzhī)
• (as precisely noon): 小時／小时 (xiǎoshí), 時候／时候 (shíhou)

• “午”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. noon

• Go-on: ご (go, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: ご (go, Jōyō)
• Kun: うま (uma, 午)

From 馬 (uma, “horse”).

• (Tokyo) うま​ [ùmáꜜ] (Odaka – [2])
• IPA^(key): [ɯ̟ᵝma̠]

• Homophone: 馬

午(うま) • (Uma) 

1. the Horse, the seventh of the twelve Earthly Branches

   Hypernyms: 十二支, 地支

   Coordinate terms: 子, 丑, 寅, 卯, 辰, 巳, 午, 未, 申, 酉, 戌, 亥

From Middle Chinese 午 (ngu^X).

午(ご) • (Go) 

1. the Horse, the seventh of the twelve Earthly Branches

   Hypernyms: 十二支, 地支

   Coordinate terms: 子, 丑, 寅, 卯, 辰, 巳, 午, 未, 申, 酉, 戌, 亥

From Middle Chinese 午 (MC nguX).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [o̞(ː)]
• Phonetic hangul: [오(ː)]
  • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

Wikisource 午 (eumhun 낮 오 (nat o))

1. Hanja form^? of 오 (“noon; daytime”). [affix]

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

午: Hán Nôm readings: ngọ, ngỏ, ngõ

1. chữ Hán form of Ngọ (“seventh of the twelve earthly branches”).

   Hypernyms: 地支, 十二支

   Coordinate terms: 子, 丑, 寅, 卯, 辰, 巳, 午, 未, 申, 酉, 戌, 亥