卑彌呼

See also: 卑弥呼

Chinese

		phonetic
trad. (卑彌呼)		卑	彌	呼
simp. (卑弥呼)		卑	弥	呼

Etymology

First attested in Records of the Three Kingdoms:

其國本亦以男子為王，住七八十年，倭國亂，相攻伐歷年，乃共立一女子為王，名曰卑彌呼，事鬼道，能惑衆。 [Literary Chinese, trad.]

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其国本亦以男子为王，住七八十年，倭国乱，相攻伐历年，乃共立一女子为王，名曰卑弥呼，事鬼道，能惑众。 [Literary Chinese, simp.]

From: Chen Shou, Records of the Three Kingdoms, circa 3^rd century CE

Qí guó běn yì yǐ nánzǐ wèi wáng, zhù qī bāshí nián, Wōguó luàn, xiàng gōngfá lìnián, nǎi gòng lì yī nǚzǐ wèi wáng, míng yuē Bēimíhū, shì guǐdào, néng huò zhòng. [Pinyin]

Originally, the country had a man as its ruler, lasting for some seventy or eighty years. [Then] the country of Wa fell into chaos, engaging in mutual warfare for years. Thereupon, they jointly established a woman as their ruler. Her name was Himiko. She practiced the Way of Ghosts and was able to bewitch the masses.

Possibly pronounced *pie mie hɑ in Eastern Han Chinese (in Schuessler (2009)'s reconstructions).

Tsunoda (1951) proposes that this is borrowed from Old Japanese 姬子 (Pi₁me₁ko₁, literally “princess child”).

For other alternative proposals see relevant Wikipedia article.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): Bēimíhū

  (Zhuyin): ㄅㄟ ㄇㄧˊ ㄏㄨ

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: Bēimíhū
    • Zhuyin: ㄅㄟ ㄇㄧˊ ㄏㄨ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: Beimíhu
    • Wade–Giles: Pei¹-mi²-hu¹
    • Yale: Bēi-mí-hū
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: Beimihu
    • Palladius: Бэймиху (Bɛjmixu)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /peɪ̯⁵⁵ mi³⁵ xu⁵⁵/

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• Middle Chinese: pjie mjie xu

Rime
Character	卑	彌	呼
Reading #	1/1	1/1	1/1
Initial (聲)	幫 (1)	明 (4)	曉 (32)
Final (韻)	支 (11)	支 (11)	模 (23)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open	Open
Division (等)	III	III	I
Fanqie	府移切	武移切	荒烏切
Baxter	pjie	mjie	xu
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/piᴇ/	/miᴇ/	/huo/
Pan Wuyun	/piɛ/	/miɛ/	/huo/
Shao Rongfen	/pjɛ/	/mjɛ/	/xo/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/piə̆/	/miə̆/	/hɔ/
Li Rong	/pie/	/mie/	/xo/
Wang Li	/pǐe/	/mǐe/	/xu/
Bernhard Karlgren	/pie̯/	/mie̯/	/xuo/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	bī	mí	hū
Expected Cantonese Reflex	bei1	mei4	fu1

Proper noun

卑彌呼

1. (historical) Himiko, a semi-legendary queen of Yamatai in ancient Japan

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (卑彌呼):

• → Japanese: 卑弥呼(ひみこ) (Himiko)

Japanese

Kanji in this term
卑	彌	呼
ひ Grade: S	み Jinmeiyō	こ Grade: 6
on'yomi	goon	kan'on

For pronunciation and definitions of 卑彌呼 – see the following entry.

【卑弥呼ひみこ】 [proper noun] (historical) a semi-legendary queen of 邪馬台国 (Yamatai-koku, “Yamatai”) [late Yayoi period] [proper noun] a female given name

(This term, 卑彌呼, is the kyūjitai of the above term.)