無名指

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See also: 无名指

Chinese

to not have a name; anonymous; nameless
 
finger; to point; to direct
finger; to point; to direct; to indicate
 
trad. (無名指) 無名
simp. (无名指) 无名
Literally: “nameless finger”.

Etymology

From Mencius:

無名疾痛害事 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
无名疾痛害事 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
From: Mencius, c. 4th century BCE
Jīn yǒu wúmíng zhī zhǐ, qū ér bù shēn, fēi jítòng hàishì yě, rú yǒu néng shēn zhī zhě, zé bù yuǎn Qín Chǔ zhī lù, wèi zhǐ zhī bù ruò rén yě.
Here is a man whose fourth finger is bent and cannot be stretched out straight. It is not painful, nor does it incommode his business, and yet if there be any one who can make it straight, he will not think the way from Qin to Chu far to go to him; because his finger is not like the finger of other people.

Pronunciation


Noun

無名指

  1. ring finger

Synonyms

Japanese

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term

Grade: 4
めい
Grade: 1

Grade: 3
on'yomi

Borrowed from Middle Chinese 無名指 (mɨo miᴇŋ t͡ɕˠiɪX, literally no, without + name + finger). Compare modern Cantonese reading mou4 ming4 zi2, Hakka mò-miàng-chí.

Pronunciation

Noun

()(めい)() (mumeishi

  1. Synonym of 薬指: ring finger

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
Grade: 4 Grade: 1 ゆび
Grade: 3
irregular

Calque of Middle Chinese 無名指 (unnamed finger), swapping the readings of the first two kanji to match Japanese word order.

This reading is more commonly spelled 名無し指.

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

無名指(ななしゆび) (nanashiyubi

  1. Synonym of 薬指 (kusuriyubi): ring finger

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN