每

Han character

每 (Kangxi radical 80, 毋+3, 7 strokes, cangjie input 人田卜戈 (OWYI), four-corner 8050₇, composition ⿱𠂉母)

Glyph origin

More information Historical forms of the character 每, Shang ...

Historical forms of the character 每
Shang	Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

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Shuowen: Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *mɯːʔ): semantic 屮 + phonetic 母 (OC *mɯʔ). Perhaps, in this character, the top component represents a hairpin (笄) made of bamboo to indicate that the woman was at least 15 years old.

Otherwise, partly in accordance to the interpretation of Xu Shen, the sprout indicates that the woman was considered adult and ready to be married and generate sons.

See the original form of 敖, in which the top component is the same. See also 毒.

The top component of the character is unrelated to 旅, 伤, 复, 乞 as well as 人.

Etymology

Possibly from Proto-Mon-Khmer *muuj (“cardinal number one”) (Schuessler, 2007).

Pronunciation

Definitions

每

1. ^† lush

   • 原田每每，舍其舊而新是謀。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     原田每每，舍其旧而新是谋。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Commentary of Zuo, c. 4^th century BCE

     Yuántián měiměi, shě qí jiù ér xīn shì móu. [Pinyin]

     Lush are the fields! The old are about to be discarded; the new are being planned (or "making a plan"). (Ominous song heard before the Battle of Chengpu, precise meaning debated.)

2. every; each

   每日  ―  měirì  ―  every day; daily

   每次  ―  měicì  ―  every time

3. every time; each time
4. often; frequently
   • 1900 July 24, 梁啟超 [Liang Qichao], chapter 31, in 和文漢讀法 [The Chinese Method of Reading Japanese]‎, Tokyo: 秀英舍, page 18:

     讀日本書者，每苦於不能斷句。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     读日本书者，每苦于不能断句。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     Dú Rìběn shū zhě, měi kǔyú bùnéng duànjù. [Pinyin]

     Those who read Japanese books often suffer from their inability to punctuate sentences.

5. ^† Alternative form of 們 / 们 (plural marker)
6. ^† flourishingly
7. a surname

Compounds

Descendants

Others:

• → Vietnamese: mọi

References

• “每”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• “每”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2025.

Kanji

(Jinmeiyō kanji, kyūjitai kanji, shinjitai form 毎)

1. every
2. each

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 每 (MC mwojX).

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [mɛ(ː)] ~ [me̞(ː)]
• Phonetic hangul: [매(ː)/메(ː)]
  • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

每

Wikisource 每 (eumhun 매양 매 (maeyang mae))

1. hanja form^? of 매 (“always; every”) [determiner]

References

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

Han character

每: Hán Nôm readings: mỗi, mọi, mủi

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