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Definition 2024

妹

妹

See also: 妺

Translingual

Han character

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

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

Chinese

simp. and trad.
 妹

Glyph origin

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

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.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

Japanese

Kanji

妹

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

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

Noun

妹 ‎(hiragana いも, romaji imo)

  1. a close female companion; a sister or wife
Derived terms

Etymology 2

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

Pronunciation

Noun

妹 ‎(hiragana いもうと, romaji imōto)

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

References

  1. 1 2 1974, 新明解国語辞典 (Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten), Second Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō
  2. ↑ 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, ISBN 978-4-14-011112-3

Korean

Hanja

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

Han character

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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