卯

Han character

卯 (Kangxi radical 26, 卩+3, 5 strokes, cangjie input 竹竹尸中 (HHSL), four-corner 7772₀, composition ⿰𠂎卩)

Glyph origin

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

Historical forms of the character 卯
Shang		Western Zhou	Warring States		Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)		Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Qin slip script	Ancient script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

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The character represents a pair of knives to butcher animals. The original meaning is preserved in 劉. An old and conservative variant is 戼.

This character was found in oracle bone scripts depicting a sacrifice (a human or animal body) that is cut in half. This kind of practice mainly happened in Shang dynasty and was gradually eliminated after Zhou's conquest of Shang, leading to obscurity of the character's original meaning.

According to Shuowen Jiezi, it is an open door, like 門／𨳇 (mén) but reversed; however, Xu Shen's interpretations are not based on oracle bones and bronzes. Another similar folk etymology links the character to the mortise in woodworking.

Etymology

Derived from root 流 (OC *r(j)u) with volitional or agentive OC prefix *m- (see Sagart, 1999); so *m-ruu means "(cause to flow >) pour out, empty" > *m-ruuʔ 卯 "pouring or emptying stage" i.e. "waning moon", "with the word in its sacrificial applications meaning 'to blood-let'" (Smith, 2011).

Association with the rabbit was probably arbitrary, just as how 辰 was arbitrarily associated with the dragon (see Ferlus, 2013).

Pronunciation

Definitions

Wikipedia has an article on:

• 卯榫

卯

1. fourth of twelve earthly branches (十二支)
2. rabbit (兔) of Chinese zodiac
3. period from 5-7 a.m.
4. early morning
5. mortise

Compounds

References

• “卯”, 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–
• 莆田市政协文化文史和学习委员会 [Culture, History and Learning Committee of Putian CPPCC], editor (2021), “卯”, in 莆仙方言大词典 [Comprehensive Dictionary of Puxian Dialect] (overall work in Mandarin and Puxian Min), Xiamen University Press, →ISBN, page 29.
• 莆田市荔城区档案馆 [Putian City Licheng District Archives], editor (2022), “卯”, in 莆仙方言文读字汇 [Puxian Dialect Literary Reading Dictionary] (overall work in Mandarin and Puxian Min), page 152.

Kanji

(Jinmeiyō kanji)

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

Compounds

• 卯(う)建(だつ) (udatsu)
• 卯波(うなみ) (unami), 卯浪(うなみ) (unami)　
• 卯(う)の花(はな) (unohana)
• 卯(ぼう)酒(しゅ) (bōshu)
• 卯(ぼう)酉(ゆう)線(せん) (bōyūsen)

Etymology 1

Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:

卯

Wikipedia ^ja

From 兎 (usagi, u, “rabbit”).

Etymology 2

From Middle Chinese 卯 (mæw^X).

Hanja

卯 (eumhun 토끼 묘 (tokki myo))

1. hanja form^? of 묘 (“rabbit”)

卯 (eumhun 넷째 지지 묘 (netjjae jiji myo))

1. hanja form^? of 묘 (“fourth Earthly Branch”)

Han character

卯: Hán Nôm readings: mão, mẫu, méo, Mẹo, mẻo

1. chữ Hán form of Mão (“fourth of the twelve earthly branches”).

   Hypernyms: 地支, 十二支

   Coordinate terms: 子, 丑, 寅, 卯, 辰, 巳, 午, 未, 申, 酉, 戌, 亥