Definify.com

Definition 2024


Translingual

Han character

(radical 172 +5, 13 strokes, cangjie input 卜一心人土 (YMPOG), four-corner 20114, composition)

  1. female
  2. feminine
  3. gentle, soft

References

  • KangXi: page 1366, character 11
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 41998
  • Dae Jaweon: page 1871, character 2
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 6, page 4098, character 18
  • Unihan data for U+96CC

Chinese

simp. and trad.

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character
Bamboo and silk script Large seal script Small seal script
Characters in the same phonetic series () (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
*saːls, *sjaːl, *seːs
*ʔsreːʔ, *ʔseʔ, *sʰeʔ, *ʔsreʔ
*zreː
*zreː
*zreː, *ʔseʔ, *ze
*zreːs
*zraːds
*zraːds, *slɯːɡ
*ʔseː, *zeːʔ, *ʔseʔ
*sʰeːʔ, *sʰeʔ
*sʰeːʔ, *sʰeʔ, *ze
*sʰeːʔ
*zeːʔ, *ʔse
*zeːs, *zes
*ʔse
*ʔse
*ʔse
*ʔse, *ʔseʔ
*ʔse, *ze
*ʔse, *sʰe
*ʔse, *sʰe, *ze
*ʔse, *ʔse, *ʔseʔ
*ʔseʔ
訿 *ʔseʔ
*ʔseʔ
*ʔseʔ
*sʰe
*sʰeʔ
*sʰeʔ, *seʔ
*sʰes
*ze
*ze, *zes
*ze, *zes
*ze
*ʔsre

Pronunciation



Rime
Character
Reading # 1/1
Initial () (14)
Final () (11)
Tone (調) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open
Division () III
Fanqie
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/t͡sʰiᴇ/
Pan
Wuyun
/t͡sʰiɛ/
Shao
Rongfen
/t͡sʰjɛ/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/t͡sʰiə̆/
Li
Rong
/t͡sʰie/
Wang
Li
/t͡sʰǐe/
Bernard
Karlgren
/t͡sʰie̯/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character
Reading # 1/1
No. 1721
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
0
Corresponding
MC rime
Old
Chinese
/*sʰe/

Definitions

  1. (formal) female (describing animals)

Usage notes

  • Commonly used for animals to mean "female" in academic contexts, less commonly used in non-academic contexts (use "" instead), and not used for humans (use "" instead). For example:
    母雞 / 母鸡   mǔjī   hen
    母牛   mǔniú   cow

Antonyms

  • (xióng, “male”)

Japanese

Kanji

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

Readings

Kanji in this term
めす
Grade: S
kun'yomi

Noun

(hiragana めす, romaji mesu)

  1. female

Korean

Hanja

(ja) (hangeul , revised ja, McCune-Reischauer cha, Yale ca)

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

Vietnamese

Han character

(thư)

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