尼

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

尼 (Kangxi radical 44, 尸+2, 5 strokes, cangjie input 尸心 (SP), four-corner 7721₁, composition ⿸尸匕)

Derived characters

• 呢, 泥, 妮, 昵, 𮋯, 旎, 柅, 鈮(铌), 秜, 𥿡, 𫆜

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 300, character 3
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 7635
• Dae Jaweon: page 596, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 965, character 4
• Unihan data for U+5C3C

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 尼
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) . The character does not appear as an independent character in the oracle bone script but appears as a component of 𢓚 and 秜. The character shows a man (尸) sitting on or leaning on another man (匕), giving the original meaning of “to stop” or “close; intimate”; the derivative 昵 refers to the latter meaning.

Shuowen considered it as a phono-sematic compound, but this is widely discredited by later scholars.

Etymology 1

Clipping of 比丘尼 (bǐqiūní), from Sanskrit भिक्षुणी (bhikṣuṇī, “female beggar”) or Pali bhikkhunī (“female beggar”). Compare Sanskrit भिक्षु (bhikṣu, “beggar”).

Pronunciation

Definitions

尼

1. Buddhist nun

Compounds

Etymology 2

Unknown. Possibly a variant of 邇 (OC *njelʔ, “near”) (compare Mandarin 你 (nǐ) from 爾 (OC *njelʔ)), or a conflation of 邇 (OC *njelʔ, “near”) and 昵 (OC *niɡ) (Schuessler, 2007).

Pronunciation

Definitions

尼

1. ^† near; close; intimate
2. ^† peaceful; calm
3. ^† harmonious

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

Definitions

尼

1. Short for 尼泊爾／尼泊尔 (Níbó'ěr, “Nepal”).

   中尼邊界／中尼边界  ―  Zhōng Ní biānjiè  ―  China-Nepal border

Etymology 4

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

Definitions

尼

1. a surname

Etymology 5

Possibly from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m/s-njal (“to sleep; to lie down”) (Sagart, 2004) while inheriting a *-t applicative suffix (Jacques, 2016a), since Middle Chinese sources quote the fanqie 女乙切 or /*ɳit̚/ (The Jingdian Shiwen section for the quotation from Mencius; see below). The stem word can be compared with the Tibetan ཉལ་པ (nyal pa, “to lie down; to go to sleep; to dwell”), and possibly with the Tangut 𗱩 (*njwij¹, “to obstruct; to obscure; to choke up”). See also 柅 (OC *nil, *nilʔ, “stopper”) attested in the Zhou Yi.

Pronunciation

(Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this pronunciation?)

Definitions

尼

1. (literary) to stop; to obstruct

   • 行或使之，止或尼之。行止，非人所能也。 [Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]

     From: Mencius, c. 4^th century BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Xíng huò shǐ zhī, zhǐ huò nì zhī. Xíng zhǐ, fēi rén suǒ néng yě.

     A man's advancement is effected, it may be, by others, and the stopping him is, it may be, from the efforts of others. But to advance a man or to stop his advance is really beyond the power of other men.

Compounds

Etymology 6

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

Definitions

尼

1. (Taishanese) a few; a little bit; some
   • 該尼／该尼 [Taishanese]  ―  these ones

   • 有尼人認為台山話難過廣州話。 [Taishanese, trad.]
     有尼人认为台山话难过广州话。 [Taishanese, simp.]

     Some people think Taishanese is harder than Cantonese.

2. (Taishanese) the; those
3. (Taishanese) more; -er

   • 廣州話係唔係難尼啊？ [Taishanese, trad.]
     广州话系唔系难尼啊？ [Taishanese, simp.]

     Is Cantonese harder?

Synonyms

Etymology 7

Pronunciation

This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

Definitions

尼

1. (Leizhou Min) Prefix in non-face-to-face kinship terms.

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

Readings

• Go-on: に (ni, Jōyō); ねい (nei)
• Kan-on: じ (ji); でい (dei)
• Kun: あま (ama, 尼, Jōyō)

Compounds

• 尼(に)僧(そう) (nisō, “a sister: a Buddhist or Christian nun”)

Etymology 1

Probably ultimately from Pali amma (“mother; woman”).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) あ​ま (Atamadaka – )
• (Tokyo) あま (Heiban – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

尼(あま) • (ama) 

1. nun
2. (derogatory) woman

Derived terms

• 尼(あま)君(ぎみ) (amagimi, “honorific term of address for a nun of high social standing”)
• 尼(あま)御(ご)前(ぜん) (ama gozen, “honorific term of address for a nun”)
• 尼(あま)寺(でら) (amadera, “a Buddhist temple at which nuns live; a Christian convent or nunnery”)
• 尼(あま)法(ほう)師(し) (ama hōshi, “an ordained Buddhist nun”)

Etymology 2

Clipping of アマゾン (Amazon, “Amazon.com Inc”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Proper noun

尼(あま) • (Ama) 

1. (Internet slang, dated) Amazon (Amazon.com Inc)
   • 2019 December 19, 闇陰ひかる@騎士団長兼任提督, Twitter‎:

     あ、空(くう)戦(せん)アルト売(う)ってる（´・ω・`）でも明日(あす)尼(あま)から届(とど)くから

     A, kūsen-Aruto utteru (´ ω `) demo asu Ama kara todoku kara

     Ah, aerial combat version of Alt is sold :( but I'll get it from Amazon tomorrow

Synonyms

• 密(みつ)林(りん) (mitsurin)

References

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 尼 (MC nrij). Recorded as Middle Korean 니 (ni) (Yale: ni) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

尼

Wikisource

尼 (eumhun 여승 니 (yeoseung ni), South Korea 여승 이 (yeoseung i))

1. Hanja form^? of 니/이 (“a Buddhist nun”).

Compounds

References

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

Vietnamese

Han character

尼: Hán Nôm readings: ni, này, nê, nơi, nầy, nì

1. place