溟

溟 U+6E9F, 溟 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-6E9F ← 溞 [U+6E9E] CJK Unified Ideographs 溠 → [U+6EA0]

Translingual

Han character

溟 (Kangxi radical 85, 水+10, 13 strokes, cangjie input 水月日金 (EBAC), four-corner 3718₀, composition ⿰氵冥)

1. sea, ocean
2. drizzling rain
3. dark, obscure

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 640, character 2
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 17947
• Dae Jaweon: page 1046, character 24
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 1709, character 5
• Unihan data for U+6E9F

Chinese

simp. and trad.		溟

Glyph origin

Characters in the same phonetic series (冥) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
瞑	*meːn, *meːns, *meːŋ
嫇	*mreːŋ, *meːŋ, *meːŋʔ
慏	*meŋʔ
冥	*meːŋ
榠	*meːŋ
鄍	*meːŋ
溟	*meːŋ, *meːŋʔ
螟	*meːŋ
猽	*meːŋ
蓂	*meːŋ, *meːɡ
覭	*meːŋ, *meːɡ
暝	*meːŋ, *meːŋs
幎	*meːɡ
幂	*meːɡ
塓	*meːɡ

Etymology

Thought by classical commentators to be the same word as 冥 (OC *meːŋ, “dark, black(of water)”) (likely in light of the parallelism with the unrelated 海 (OC *hmlɯːʔ, “sea, ocean”) < 晦 (OC *hmɯːs, “dark”)). If so, see 冥 (OC *meːŋ) for etymology.

Schuessler (2007) proposes that there's an outside chance this can be instead connected with Proto-Tibeto-Burman *mlik, whence Old Burmese မ္လစ် (“river”), Burmese မြစ် (mrac), Rakhine [script needed] (mreik, “sea”), Daai Chin [Term?] (mlik (tui), “big water, river, sea”)

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): míng (ming²)

  (Zhuyin): ㄇㄧㄥˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): ming⁴ / ming⁵
• Puxian Min (Pouseng Ping'ing): ming²
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): bêng

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: míng
    • Zhuyin: ㄇㄧㄥˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: míng
    • Wade–Giles: ming²
    • Yale: míng
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: ming
    • Palladius: мин (min)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /miŋ³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: ming⁴ / ming⁵
    • Yale: mìhng / míhng
    • Cantonese Pinyin: ming⁴ / ming⁵
    • Guangdong Romanization: ming⁴ / ming⁵
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mɪŋ²¹/, /mɪŋ¹³/
• Puxian Min
  • (Putian, Xianyou)
    • Pouseng Ping'ing: ming²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /miŋ¹³/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bêng
    • Tâi-lô: bîng
    • Phofsit Daibuun: beeng
    • IPA (Xiamen): /biɪŋ²⁴/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /biɪŋ²⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /biɪŋ¹³/
    • IPA (Taipei): /biɪŋ²⁴/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /biɪŋ²³/

---

• Middle Chinese: meng, mengX

Rime
Character	溟	溟
Reading #	1/2	2/2
Initial (聲)	明 (4)	明 (4)
Final (韻)	青 (125)	青 (125)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Rising (X)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	IV	IV
Fanqie	莫經切	莫迥切
Baxter	meng	mengX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/meŋ/	/meŋX/
Pan Wuyun	/meŋ/	/meŋX/
Shao Rongfen	/mɛŋ/	/mɛŋX/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/mɛjŋ/	/mɛjŋX/
Li Rong	/meŋ/	/meŋX/
Wang Li	/mieŋ/	/mieŋX/
Bernhard Karlgren	/mieŋ/	/mieŋX/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	míng	mǐng
Expected Cantonese Reflex	ming4	ming5

• Old Chinese

  (Zhengzhang): /*meːŋ/, /*meːŋʔ/

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	溟	溟
Reading #	1/2	2/2
No.	9200	9209
Phonetic component	冥	冥
Rime group	耕	耕
Rime subdivision	0	0
Corresponding MC rime	冥	茗
Old Chinese	/*meːŋ/	/*meːŋʔ/

Definitions

溟

1. sea, ocean

   • 北冥有魚，其名為鯤。 [MSC, trad.]
     北冥有鱼，其名为鲲。 [MSC, simp.]

     Běimíng yǒu yú, qí míng wéi kūn. [Pinyin]

     In the northern ocean there is a fish; its name is Kun.

Compounds

• 溟沐
• 溟渤
• 溟溟 (míngmíng)
• 滄溟／沧溟
• 溟漭
• 溟濛／溟蒙 (míngméng)
• 重溟

 

References

• “溟”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[1], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• 莆田市荔城区档案馆 [Putian City Licheng District Archives], editor (2022), “溟”, in 莆仙方言文读字汇 [Puxian Dialect Literary Reading Dictionary] (overall work in Mandarin and Puxian Min), page 159.

Japanese

Kanji

溟

(Hyōgai kanji)

1. dark

   Synonym: 冥

2. light rain
3. sea, ocean

Readings

From Middle Chinese 溟 (MC meng); compare Mandarin 溟 (míng):

• Go-on: みょう (myō)^{←みやう (myau, historical)}
• Kan-on: めい (mei)^{←めい (mei, historical)}

From Middle Chinese 溟 (MC mengX); compare Mandarin 溟 (mǐng):

• Go-on: みょう (myō)^{←みやう (myau, historical)}
• Kan-on: めい (mei)^{←めい (mei, historical)}

From native Japanese roots:

• Kun: うみ (umi, 溟)、くらい (kurai, 溟い)

Compounds

• 溟(みょう)溟(みょう) (myōmyō) (冥(みょう)冥(みょう))
• 溟(めい)海(かい) (meikai) (冥(めい)海(かい))
• 溟(めい)涬(けい) (meikei)
• 溟(めい)色(しょく) (meishoku) (冥(めい)色(しょく))
• 溟(めい)渤(ぼつ) (meibotsu)
• 溟(めい)溟(めい) (meimei) (冥(めい)冥(めい))
• 溟(めい)濛(もう) (meimō)
• 溟(めい)沐(もく) (meimoku)
• 混(こん)溟(めい) (konmei) (混(こん)冥(めい))
• 西(せい)溟(めい) (seimei) (西(せい)冥(めい))
• 滄(そう)溟(めい) (sōmei)
• 東(とう)溟(めい) (tōmei)
• 南(なん)溟(めい) (nanmei) (南(なん)冥(めい))
• 北(ほく)溟(めい) (hokumei) (北(ほく)冥(めい))
• 濛(もう)溟(めい) (mōmei)

 

Korean

Hanja

溟 (eum 명 (myeong))

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Vietnamese

Han character

溟: Hán Nôm readings: mênh, minh

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

References

• Nom Foundation