尼

Stroke order

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

• 呢, 泥, 妮, 昵, 𮋯, 旎, 柅, 鈮(铌), 秜, 𥿡, 𫆜

• 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

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

Compare 化, 比, 北, and 卬.

"Buddhist nun"

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

尼

1. Used in transcription.

   尼日  ―  Nírì  ―  Niger

   尼加拉瓜  ―  Níjiālāguā  ―  Nicaragua

   悉尼  ―  Xīní  ―  Sydney

   尼斯湖  ―  Nísīhú  ―  Loch Ness

   尼古丁  ―  nígǔdīng  ―  nicotine

   尼龍／尼龙  ―  nílóng  ―  nylon

   比基尼  ―  bǐjīní  ―  bikini

   尼古拉·特斯拉  ―  Nígǔlā Tèsīlā  ―  Nicola Tesla

   尼爾·杭思朗／尼尔·杭思朗  ―  Ní'ěr Hángsīlǎng  ―  Niel Armstrong

   1. Buddhist nun
   2. 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

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).

尼

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

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

尼

1. a surname

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.

(Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this pronunciation?)

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.

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

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?

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

尼

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

(Jōyō kanji)

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

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

Probably ultimately from Pali amma (“mother; woman”).^[1][2]

• (Tokyo) あま (Atamadaka – )^[2]
• (Tokyo) あま (Heiban – )^[2]
• IPA^(key):

尼(あま) • (ama) 

1. nun
2. (derogatory) woman

• 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”)

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

• IPA^(key):

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

• 密(みつ)林(りん) (mitsurin)

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

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

尼

Wikisource

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

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

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

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

1. place