妹

See also: 妺

Translingual

Etymology

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

Han character

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

1. younger sister

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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Chinese

simp. and trad.		妹

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): mèi (mei⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄇㄟˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): mui⁶, mui^6-1, mui^6-2
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): moi
• Min Nan (POJ): bē / mōe

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: mèi
    • Zhuyin: ㄇㄟˋ
    • Wade-Giles: mei⁴
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: mey
    • IPA ^(key): /meɪ̯⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: mui⁶, mui^6-1, mui^6-2
    • Yale: muih, mūi, múi
    • Cantonese Pinyin: mui⁶, mui^6-1, mui^6-2
    • IPA ^(key): /muːi̯²²/, /muːi̯²²⁻⁵⁵/, /muːi̯²²⁻³⁵/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: moi
    • Hakka Romanization System: moi
    • Hagfa Pinyim: moi⁴
    • IPA: /mo̯i⁵⁵/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bē / mōe
    • Tâi-lô: bē / muē
    • Phofsit Daibuun: be, moe
    • IPA (Taipei): /be³³/, /mue³³/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /be²²/, /mue²²/

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• Middle Chinese: /muʌi^H/▼

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

• Old Chinese▼

  (Baxter-Sagart): /*C.mˤə[t]-s/

  (Zhengzhang): /*mɯːds/

Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	妹
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	mèi
Middle Chinese	‹ mwojH ›
Old Chinese	/*C.mˤə[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

妹

1. younger sister

Compounds

• 妹子 (mèizi)
• 妹妹 (mèimèi, “younger sister”)
• 姐妹 (jiěmèi, “sisters”)
• 姊妹 (zǐmèi, “sisters”)
• 小妹 (“(Min Nan) younger sister”)
• 你妹 (nǐmèi, “(Mandarin) my arse”)
• 細妹／细妹 (“(dialectal) younger sister”)
• 伊妹 (yīmèi), 伊妹兒／伊妹儿 (yīmèir, “(humourous, obsolete) email”)
• 表妹 (biǎomèi)
• 妹夫 (mèifu)
• 堂妹 (tángmèi)
• 妹紙／妹纸 (mèizhǐ)
• 鬼妹 (guǐmèi, “(Cantonese) a Caucasian girl”)
• 歸妹／归妹 (guīmèi)
• 辣妹 (làmèi, “a hot babe”)
• 阿妹 (āmèi, “(Wu) younger sister”)
• 兄弟姐妹 (xiōngdì jiěmèi, “brothers and sisters”)
• 架妹 (jiàmèi)

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Japanese

Kanji

妹

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

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

Etymology 1

/imo1/ → /imo/. The medial /m/ means "woman, female" and is found in a number of related terms: me, onna, megami, omina, omo etc.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) い​も [íꜜmò] (Atamadaka - [1])
• IPA^(key): [imo̞]

Noun

妹 ‎(hiragana いも, romaji imo)

1. a close female companion; a sister or wife

Derived terms

• 妹 (imōto)

Etymology 2

妹 ‎(imo1) + person ‎(hi1to2): /imopitə/ → /imoɸito/ → /imowito/ → /imouto/ → /imoːto/.

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• (Tokyo) いもうと​ [ìmóótóꜜ] (Odaka - [4])
• IPA^(key): [imo̞ːto̞]

Noun

妹 ‎(hiragana いもうと, romaji imōto)

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

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Korean

Hanja

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

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

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Vietnamese

Han character

妹 (muội)

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