薇
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薇 (zenmai): a coiled fiddlehead frond of the Japanese flowering fern.
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Translingual
Han character
薇 (Kangxi radical 140, 艸+13, 19 strokes, cangjie input 廿竹人大 (THOK), four-corner 44248, composition ⿱艹微)
Derived characters
References
- Kangxi Dictionary: page 1060, character 21
- Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 32092
- Dae Jaweon: page 1524, character 9
- Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 5, page 3303, character 12
- Unihan data for U+8587
Chinese
| trad. | 薇 | |
|---|---|---|
| simp. # | 薇 | |
Glyph origin
Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *mrɯl, *mɯl) : semantic 艸 (“grass; plant”) + phonetic 微 (OC *mɯl).
Pronunciation
- Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese, Mainland)+
- Hanyu Pinyin:
- Zhuyin: ㄨㄟ
- Tongyong Pinyin: wei
- Wade–Giles: wei1
- Yale: wēi
- Gwoyeu Romatzyh: uei
- Palladius: вэй (vɛj)
- Sinological IPA (key): /weɪ̯⁵⁵/
- (Standard Chinese, Taiwan)+
- Hanyu Pinyin:
- Zhuyin: ㄨㄟˊ
- Tongyong Pinyin: wéi
- Wade–Giles: wei2
- Yale: wéi
- Gwoyeu Romatzyh: wei
- Palladius: вэй (vɛj)
- Sinological IPA (key): /weɪ̯³⁵/
- (Standard Chinese, Mainland)+
- Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
- Jyutping: mei4
- Yale: mèih
- Cantonese Pinyin: mei4
- Guangdong Romanization: méi4
- Sinological IPA (key): /mei̯²¹/
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
- Southern Min
- Middle Chinese: mij, mj+j
- Old Chinese
- (Zhengzhang): /*mrɯl/, /*mɯl/
Definitions
薇
- Osmunda regalis, a species of fern (also known as royal fern or flowering fern)
- 陟彼南山、言采其薇。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]
- From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11th – 7th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version
- Zhì bǐ nánshān, yán cǎi qí wēi.
- I ascended that hill in the south, and gathered the royal ferns.
- Used in 薔薇／蔷薇 (qiángwēi, “multiflora rose”).
See also
- 蕨 (jué, “bracken, eagle fern”)
Compounds
Japanese
Kanji
薇
Readings
Compounds
- 薔薇 (bara): rose
Etymology
| Kanji in this term |
|---|
| 薇 |
| ぜんまい Hyōgai |
| kun'yomi |
| Alternative spellings |
|---|
| 紫萁 (uncommon) 狗脊 (rare) |
Uncertain. Theories include:
- Shift from 銭舞 (zeni mai, literally “coin + twirling / spinning”), from the way the fiddleheads look like rotating or twirling coins
- Shift from 銭巻き (zeni maki, literally “coin + roll”), from the way the coil of a fiddlehead with the hole in the center looks like a traditional coin (which also has a hole in the center)[1]
- Shift from 千巻き (sen maki, literally “thousand + roll”), from the way the repeating pattern of the fiddleheads look like a lot of small things in a roll
The "roll" derivation would align with the derivation of synonym 巻子 (makago).
First attested in 1709.[2]
Pronunciation
Noun
- Japanese flowering fern (Osmunda japonica), of which the young fiddleheads are edible
Usage notes
As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts (where katakana is customary), as ゼンマイ.
Derived terms
References
- ^ Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
- ^ “薇・紫萁・狗脊”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten] (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006
- ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
- ^ Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
- ^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN
Further reading
- Entry at Nihon Jiten (in Japanese)
Korean
Etymology
From Middle Chinese 薇 (MC mij). Recorded as Middle Korean 미 (mi) (Yale: mi) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.
Hanja
薇 (eumhun 장미 미 (jangmi mi))
薇 (eumhun 고비 미 (gobi mi))
Compounds
References
Vietnamese
Han character
- This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text
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