尼

Translingual

Etymology

Ideogrammic compound (會意): 尸 (“man”) + 匕 (“man”) - two man leaning against each other, originally meaning "close, intimate". The derivative 昵 refers to the original word.

Han character

尼 (radical 44 尸+2, 5 strokes, cangjie input 尸心 (SP), four-corner 7721₁, composition ⿸尸匕)

1. Buddhist nun
2. transliteration for syllables similar to /ni/ (e.g. 尼日尔)

References

• KangXi: page 300, character 3
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 7635
• Dae Jaweon: page 596, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 2, page 965, character 4
• Unihan data for U+5C3C

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Chinese

		-
simp. and trad.		尼

Etymology

Short of 比丘尼, from Sanskrit भिक्षुणी (bhikṣunī, “a female beggar”), from Pali bhikkhunī (“a female beggar”). Compare भिक्षु (bhikṣu, “beggar”).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): ní (ni²)

  (Zhuyin): ㄋㄧˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): nei⁴
• Min Nan (POJ): nî

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: ní
    • Zhuyin: ㄋㄧˊ
    • Wade-Giles: nih²
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: ni
    • IPA ^(key): /ni³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: nei⁴
    • Yale: nèih
    • Cantonese Pinyin: nei⁴
    • IPA ^(key): /nei̯²¹/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: nî
    • Tâi-lô: nî
    • IPA (Taipei): /ni²³/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /ni¹³/

Middle Chinese pronunciation (尼, reconstructed)
Character (尼), Pronunciation 1/1
Initial: 娘 (12) Final: 脂 Division: III			Openness: Open Tone: Level (Ø)			Fanqie: 女夷切
Zhengzhang Shangfang	Bernard Karlgren	Li Rong	Pan Wuyun	Edwin Pulleyblank	Wang Li	Shao Rongfen
/ɳiɪ/	/ni/	/ni/	/ɳi/	/ɳi/	/ni/	/njɪ/

Old Chinese pronunciation (尼, reconstructed)
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character								Modern Beijing (Pinyin)								Middle Chinese								Old Chinese								English
尼								ní								‹ nejX ›								/*nˤərʔ/								to stop
尼								ní								‹ nejH ›								/*nˤərʔ-s/								to stop, obstruct
尼								ní								‹ nrij ›								/*nr[əj]/								near, close
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter-Sagart system: Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character					No.					Phonetic component					Rime group					Rime subdivision					Corresponding MC rime					Old Chinese					Notes
尼					9428					尼					脂					1					尼					/*nil/

Noun

1. female Buddhist.

Compounds

• 尼泊尔
• 尼姑
• 尼姑庵
• 尼古丁
• 尼加拉瓜
• 尼龙
• 尼日尔
• 尼日利亚
• 尼僧

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Japanese

Kanji

尼

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

1. This entry needs a definition. Please add one, then remove {{defn}}.

Readings

• On: に (ni), じ (ji)
• Kun: あま (ama)

Compounds

• 尼君
• 尼御前
• 尼寺
• 尼法師
• 尼僧

Noun

尼 (hiragana あま, romaji ama)

1. nun

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Korean

Hanja

尼 (ni, i) (hangeul 니, 이, revised ni, i, McCune-Reischauer ni, i)

1. This entry needs a definition. Please add one, then remove {{defn}}.

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Vietnamese

Han character

尼 (ni, này, nê, nơi, nầy, nì)

1. place