妹

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See also: 妺
妹 U+59B9, 妹
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-59B9
← 妸
[U+59B8] 		CJK Unified Ideographs 妺 →
[U+59BA]

Translingual[edit]

Han character[edit]

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

Stroke order
0 strokes

References[edit]

  • 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

Chinese[edit]

simp. and trad.
 妹
The character 妹 in Small seal script

Glyph origin[edit]

Characters in the same phonetic series (未) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
寐 *mids
魅 *mrɯds
鬽 *mrɯds
昧 *mɯːds
妹 *mɯːds
眛 *maːds, *mɯːds
沬 *maːds, *hmɯːds, *mɯds
未 *mɯds
味 *mɯds
鮇 *mɯds
菋 *mɯds

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *mɯːds): semantic 女 (“female, woman”) + phonetic 未 (OC *mɯds).

Pronunciation[edit]

Note:
  • Xiamen:
    • bē - vernacular;
    • bōe - literary.
  • Quanzhou:
    • bēr - vernacular;
    • mūi - literary.
  • Zhangzhou:
    • māi - vernacular;
    • moāi - literary.
  • (Teochew)
  • Wu
    • Rime
    Character 妹
    Reading # 1/1
    Initial (聲) 明 (4)
    Final (韻) 灰 (42)
    Tone (調) Departing (H)
    Openness (開合) Closed
    Division (等) I
    Fanqie 莫佩切
    Reconstructions
    Zhengzhang
    Shangfang         		/muʌiH/
    Pan
    Wuyun         		/muoiH/
    Shao
    Rongfen         		/muɒiH/
    Edwin
    Pulleyblank         		/mwəjH/
    Li
    Rong         		/muᴀiH/
    Wang
    Li         		/muɒiH/
    Bernard
    Karlgren         		/muɑ̆iH/
    Expected
    Mandarin
    Reflex         		mèi
    Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
    Character 妹
    Reading # 1/1
    Modern
    Beijing
    (Pinyin)         		mèi
    Middle
    Chinese         		‹ mwojH ›
    Old
    Chinese         		/*C.mˁə[t]-s/
    English younger sister

    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 妹
    Reading # 1/1
    No. 12914
    Phonetic
    component         		未
    Rime
    group         		隊
    Rime
    subdivision         		1
    Corresponding
    MC rime         		妹
    Old
    Chinese         		/*mɯːds/

    Definitions[edit]

    妹

    1. younger sister

    Compounds[edit]

    Derived terms from 妹

    Japanese[edit]

    Kanji[edit]

    妹

    (grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

    Readings[edit]

    Compounds[edit]

    Compounds

    Etymology 1[edit]

    Kanji in this term
    妹
    いも
    Grade: 2
    kun’yomi

    ⟨imo1⟩ → /imo/

    From Old Japanese.

    The medial /-m-/ means "woman, female", found in a number of related terms such as 女 (me, onna, “woman”), 嫗 (omina, “elderly woman”), and 母 (omo, “mother”, archaic).

    Pronunciation[edit]

    Noun[edit]

    妹 (hiragana いも, rōmaji imo)

    1. (archaic, usually from a male's viewpoint) a close female companion
      1. one's sister
      2. one's lover
      3. one's wife
    2. (archaic, usually from a female's viewpoint) a woman
    Antonyms[edit]
    Derived terms[edit]
    Derived terms

    Etymology 2[edit]

    ⟨imo(1) pi1to2⟩ → */imopitə/ → /imofito/ → /imowito/ → */imowuto/ /imoːto/

    Originally a compound of 妹 (imo, close female companion) + 人 (hito, “person”).[2][3]

    The shift from /imofito/ → /imoːto/ is an instance of ウ音便 (u onbin, “u sound shift”), found in terms with bilabial consonants (/m/, /b/, /w/) followed by i; commonly seen in terms such as 玄人 (kurōto, “professional”), 素人 (shirōto, “amateur”), or possibly, 相撲 (sumō, “sumo”).

    Pronunciation[edit]

    Noun[edit]

    妹 (hiragana いもうと, rōmaji imōto)

    1. one's own younger sister
      Antonym: 姉 (ane)
    2. the wife of one's younger brother; one's sister-in-law
      Synonym: 義妹 (gimai)
    3. a younger female
    Derived terms[edit]
    Derived terms

    Etymology 3[edit]

    Kanji in this term
    妹
    いもと
    Grade: 2
    kun’yomi

    /imopitə/ → */imoputə/ → */imobutə/ → */imomutə/ → */imontə/ → /imoto/

    Likely a variant shift from derived compound 妹 (imo, close female companion) + 人 (hito, “person”), appears in The Tale of Heiji, written around the mid-12th century.

    Noun[edit]

    妹 (hiragana いもと, rōmaji imoto)

    1. one's own younger sister
      Antonym: 姉 (ane)
    2. the wife of one's younger brother; one's sister-in-law
      Synonym: 義妹 (gimai)
    3. a younger female

    Proper noun[edit]

    妹 (hiragana いもと, rōmaji Imoto)

    1. a place name

    Etymology 4[edit]

    Kanji in this term
    妹
    まい
    Grade: 2
    on’yomi

    From Middle Chinese 妹 (MC muʌiH).

    Proper noun[edit]

    妹 (hiragana まい, rōmaji Mai)

    1. a female given name

    References[edit]

    1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1974, 新明解国語辞典 (Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten), Second Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō
    2. ^ 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
    3. ^ 1995, 大辞泉 (Daijisen) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
    4. ^ 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
    5. ^ 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, →ISBN

    Korean[edit]

    Hanja[edit]

    妹 • (mae) (hangeul 매)

    1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

    Vietnamese[edit]

    Han character[edit]

    妹 (muội)

    1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.
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