妹

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 Translingual 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Han character 1.2.1 References 2 Cantonese 2.1 Hanzi 3 Japanese 3.1 Etymology 1 3.1.1 Noun 3.2 Etymology 2 3.2.1 Noun 3.2.2 Kanji 3.2.2.1 Readings 4 Korean 4.1 Hanja 5 Mandarin 5.1 Hanzi 6 Vietnamese 6.1 Han character

[edit] Translingual

[edit] Etymology

Radical: 女 + Phonetic: 未

[edit] Han character

妹 (radical 38 女+5, 8 strokes, cangjie input 女十木 (VJD), four-corner 4549₀)

1. younger sister

[edit] References

• KangXi: page 257, character 28
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 6138
• Dae Jaweon: page 522, character 23
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 2, page 1034, character 6
• Unihan data for U+59B9

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[edit] Cantonese

[edit] Hanzi

妹 (Yale mui6)

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[edit] Japanese

[edit] Etymology 1

Originally /imo1/. Likely realized as [imo] (see Jōdai Tokushu Kanazukai). /imōto/ is a contraction of imo and hito "person": imohito > imouto > imōto. The medial /m/ means "woman, female" and is found in a number of related terms: me, onna, megami, omina, omo etc.

[edit] Noun

妹 (hiragana いも, romaji imo)

1. a close female companion; a sister or wife

[edit] Etymology 2

imo1 + hi1to2: [imopitwo] > [imoɸitwo] > [imoɸito] > imowito > [imouto] > [imoːto]

[edit] Noun

妹 (hiragana いもうと, romaji imōto)

1. one's own younger sister
2. a younger female

[edit] Kanji

妹 (grade 2 kanji)

[edit] Readings

• On: まい (mai)
• Kun: いもうと (imouto), いも (imo)

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[edit] Korean

[edit] Hanja

妹 (hangeul 매, revised mae, McCune-Reischauer mae)

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[edit] Mandarin

[edit] Hanzi

妹 (pinyin mèi (mei4), Wade-Giles mei⁴)

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[edit] Vietnamese

[edit] Han character

妹 (muội)