硫黄

See also: 硫黃

Chinese
For pronunciation and definitions of 硫黄 – see 硫黃 (“sulfur; sulphur; S”).
(This term, 硫黄, is the simplified form of 硫黃.)
Notes:

Japanese
Chemical element
S Previous: リン (rin) (P)
Next: 塩 (えん)素 (そ) (enso) (Cl)

Etymology 1
Kanji in this term
硫 黄
い
Grade: S		 おう
Grade: 2
Irregular

/juawa/ → /juwau/ → /iwau/ → /iwɔː/ → /iwoː/ → /ioː/

Originally a compound of 湯 (yu, “warm or hot water”) +‎ 泡 (awa, “bubble”), from the way that volcanic hot springs would often be accompanied by bubbles of sulfur gas.[1][2]

The kanji spelling is an example of jukujikun (熟字訓), from Chinese 硫黃.

An alternative theory is that the character 硫 (“sulfur”) developed an on'yomi of yu instead of the usual goon of ru or kan'on of ryū, such that the reading is on'yomi.[1] However, given that this particular sound shift is not found in other kanji readings, this derivation seems unlikely.

This is the most common reading for this term in modern Japanese.

Pronunciation

Noun

硫黄 (hiragana いおう, rōmaji iō, historical hiragana いわう)

  1. sulfur (element)
Derived terms
Derived terms

Etymology 2
Kanji in this term
硫 黄
ゆ
Grade: S		 おう
Grade: 2
Irregular

/juawa/ → /juwau/ → /juwɔː/ → /juwoː/ → /juoː/

Other than the difference in phonetic shifts, the derivation is the same as for iō above.

This reading is rare, and possibly archaic.

Pronunciation

Noun

硫黄 (hiragana ゆおう, rōmaji yuō, historical hiragana ゆわう)

  1. (rare, possibly archaic) sulfur (element)

References
  1. 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
  2. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  3. 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, →ISBN
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