銘

See also: 铭

銘	U+9298, 銘 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-9298

← 銗
[U+9297]

CJK Unified Ideographs

銙 →
[U+9299]

Translingual

Han character

銘 (Kangxi radical 167, 金+6, 14 strokes, cangjie input 金弓戈口 (CNIR), four-corner 8716₀, composition ⿰釒名)

Descendants

铭

References

Kangxi Dictionary: page 1305, character 7
Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 40385
Dae Jaweon: page 1807, character 17
Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 6, page 4200, character 10
Unihan data for U+9298

Chinese

trad.		銘
simp.		铭

Glyph origin

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

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

	Old Chinese
名	*meŋ
洺	*meŋ
眳	meŋʔ, meːŋʔ
詺	*meŋs
銘	*meːŋ
茗	*meːŋʔ
酩	*meːŋʔ
姳	*meːŋʔ

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *meːŋ) : semantic 金 (“metal”) + phonetic 名 (OC *meŋ, “name”) – to engrave in metal.

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): míng (ming²)

(Zhuyin): ㄇㄧㄥˊ
Cantonese (Jyutping): ming⁴ / ming⁵
Hakka
(Sixian, PFS): mén / mìn

(Meixian, Guangdong): mên²
Eastern Min (BUC): mìng
Puxian Min (Pouseng Ping'ing): ming²
Southern Min
(Hokkien, POJ): bêng

(Teochew, Peng'im): mêng⁵

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/
Hakka
- (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
  - Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: mén / mìn
  - Hakka Romanization System: men^ˋ / min^ˇ
  - Hagfa Pinyim: men³ / min²
  - Sinological IPA: /men³¹/, /min¹¹/
- (Meixian)
  - Guangdong: mên²
  - Sinological IPA: /mɛn¹¹/
Eastern Min
- (Fuzhou)
  - Bàng-uâ-cê: mìng
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /miŋ⁵³/
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/
- (Teochew)
  - Peng'im: mêng⁵
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: mêng
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /meŋ⁵⁵/

Middle Chinese: meng

Rime
Character	銘
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	明 (4)
Final (韻)	青 (125)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	IV
Fanqie	莫經切
Baxter	meng
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/meŋ/
Pan Wuyun	/meŋ/
Shao Rongfen	/mɛŋ/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/mɛjŋ/
Li Rong	/meŋ/
Wang Li	/mieŋ/
Bernard Karlgren	/mieŋ/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	míng
Expected Cantonese Reflex	ming⁴

Old Chinese
(Baxter–Sagart): /*mˤeŋ/

(Zhengzhang): /*meːŋ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	銘
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	míng
Middle Chinese	‹ meng ›
Old Chinese	/*mˁeŋ/
English	inscription
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. [t] as coda may in fact be -t or -p; Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	銘
Reading #	1/1
No.	9182
Phonetic component	名
Rime group	耕
Rime subdivision	0
Corresponding MC rime	冥
Old Chinese	/*meːŋ/

Definitions

銘

inscription
墓誌銘／墓志铭 ― mùzhìmíng ― epitaph

座右銘／座右铭 ― zuòyòumíng ― motto
to inscribe; to engrave
銘記／铭记 ― míngjì ― to always remember

刻骨銘心／刻骨铭心 ― kègǔmíngxīn ― unforgettable; etched in one's memory

Compounds

References

莆田市荔城区档案馆 [Putian City Licheng District Archives], editor (2022), “铭”, 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

銘

(Jōyō kanji)

inscription

Readings

Go-on: みょう (myō)^{←みやう (myau, historical)}
Kan-on: めい (mei, Jōyō)
Nanori: たか (taka)、み (mi)、め (me)

Kanji in this term
銘
めい Grade: S
on'yomi

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 銘／铭 (meng, “inscription”).

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) めー [méꜜè] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1]^[2]
IPA^(key): [me̞ː]

Noun

銘(めい) • (mei)

inscription

Derived terms

無銘(むめい) (mumei)
太刀銘(たちめい) (tachimei)
刀銘(かたなめい) (katanamei)
刀銘(とうめい) (tōmei)
表銘(おもてめい) (omotemei)
裏銘(うらめい) (uramei)
二字銘(にじめい) (nijimei): (swords) an inscription of two characters
長銘(ながめい) (nagamei), 長銘(ちょうめい) (chōmei): (swords) an inscription that includes some personal details about the swordsmith
受領銘(ずりょうめい) (zuryōmei)
折(お)り返(かえ)し銘(めい) (orikaeshimei)
額銘(がくめい) (gakumei): (swords) an inscription where a blade is shortened and a rectangular metal piece bearing the original inscription is cut out from the removed portion and embedded in the new tang
朱銘(しゅめい) (shumei)

References

^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third 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

Korean

Hanja

銘 (eumhun 새길 명 (saegil myeong))

hanja form^? of 명 (“inscribe, engrave”)
hanja form^? of 명 (“unforgettably”)

Vietnamese

Han character

銘: Hán Nôm readings: minh, triệu

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

References

Nom Foundation

[DJR-1] Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[NHK-2] 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

[1]

[2]