咪

咪 U+54AA, 咪 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-54AA ← 咩 [U+54A9] CJK Unified Ideographs 咫 → [U+54AB]

Translingual

Han character

咪 (Kangxi radical 30, 口+6, 9 strokes, cangjie input 口火木 (RFD), four-corner 6909₄, composition ⿰口米)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 186, character 14
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 3541
• Dae Jaweon: page 405, character 35
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 622, character 7
• Unihan data for U+54AA

Chinese

Glyph origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声): semantic 口 (“mouth; speech”) + phonetic 米 (OC *miːʔ).

Etymology 1

trad.		咪
simp. #		咪

Onomatopoeic.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): mī (mi¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄇㄧ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): mi¹
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): mi

  (Teochew, Peng'im): bhi⁵

• Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ¹mi

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: mī
    • Zhuyin: ㄇㄧ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: mi
    • Wade–Giles: mi¹
    • Yale: mī
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: mhi
    • Palladius: ми (mi)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mi⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong–Macau)
    • Jyutping: mi¹
    • Yale: mī
    • Cantonese Pinyin: mi¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: mi¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /miː⁵⁵/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: mi
    • Tâi-lô: mi
    • Phofsit Daibuun: my
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /mĩ⁴⁴/

Note: “sound used to call a cat”.

• • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: bhi⁵
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: bî
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /bi⁵⁵/
• Wu
  • (Northern: Shanghai)
    • Wugniu: ¹mi
    • MiniDict: 'mi^平
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ¹'mi
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /mi⁵³/

Definitions

咪

1. meow
2. sound used to call a cat
3. used in 咪咪 (mīmī, “(slang) breasts; tits; boobs”)

Compounds

• 咪咪 (mīmī)
• 唵嘛呢叭咪吽

Etymology 2

trad.		咪
simp. #		咪

Pronunciation

• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): bî / bi

---

• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, General Taiwanese, Quanzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bî
    • Tâi-lô: bî
    • Phofsit Daibuun: bii
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /bi²³/
    • IPA (Xiamen, Taipei, Quanzhou): /bi²⁴/
  • (Hokkien: Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bi
    • Tâi-lô: bi
    • Phofsit Daibuun: by
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /bi⁴⁴/

Definitions

咪

1. (Hokkien) sound used to call a duck, etc. (often reduplicated)
2. (Hokkien, endearing) Suffix used to refer to certain poultry and livestock.

   鴨咪／鸭咪 [Hokkien]  ―  ah-bî [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  ducky

   貓咪／猫咪 [Hokkien]  ―  bâ-bî [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  kitty

3. (Zhangzhou Hokkien, childish) duck

   咪咪 [Hokkien]  ―  bi-bi [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  (childish) duck

Etymology 3

Contraction of 唔係 / 唔系 (m⁴ hai⁶).

Pronunciation

• Cantonese (Jyutping): mai⁶

---

• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong–Macau)
    • Jyutping: mai⁶
    • Yale: maih
    • Cantonese Pinyin: mai⁶
    • Guangdong Romanization: mei⁶
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mɐi̯²²/

Definitions

咪 (Cantonese)

1. When used with 囉／啰 (lo¹) at the end of a phrase, used to spell out something obvious.

   本書咪已經還返畀你囉。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   本书咪已经还返畀你啰。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   bun² syu¹ mai⁶ ji⁵ ging¹ waan⁴ faan¹ bei² nei⁵ lo¹. [Jyutping]

   I've already given the book back to you, haven't I?

2. When used with 囉／啰 (lo¹) or rising intonation at the end of a phrase, used to connect a condition to a result or suggestion.

   你想睇戲咪買飛囉。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   你想睇戏咪买飞啰。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   nei⁵ soeng² tai² hei³ mai⁶ maai⁵ fei¹ lo¹. [Jyutping]

   If you want to watch a movie, then buy your tickets.

   你食埋咁多煎炸嘢咪好熱氣？ [Cantonese, trad.]
   你食埋咁多煎炸嘢咪好热气？ [Cantonese, simp.]

   nei⁵ sik⁶ maai⁴ gam³ do¹ zin¹ zaa³ je⁵ mai⁶ hou² jit⁶ hei³? [Jyutping]

   If you're eating so much fried stuff, won't you build up a lot of internal heat?

3. Used as the negative of 係／系 (hai⁶) when asking a question.

   佢哋係咪返嗮屋企喇？ [Cantonese, trad.]
   佢哋系咪返嗮屋企喇？ [Cantonese, simp.]

   keoi⁵ dei⁶ hai⁶ mai⁶ faan¹ saai³ uk¹ kei² laa³? [Jyutping]

   Did they all go home?

Etymology 4

Possibly a contraction of 唔使 (m⁴ sai²) (Bai, 2003).

Pronunciation

• Cantonese (Jyutping): mai²

---

• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong–Macau)
    • Jyutping: mai²
    • Yale: mái
    • Cantonese Pinyin: mai²
    • Guangdong Romanization: mei²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mɐi̯³⁵/

Definitions

咪

1. (Cantonese, imperative) don't

   咪咁多事啦！ [Cantonese, trad. and simp.]

   mai² gam³ do¹ si⁶ laa¹! [Jyutping]

   Don't be so nosy!

   • 1959, 唐滌生 [Tang Ti-sheng], 帝女花 [The Flower Princess] (film), spoken by 長平公主 [Princess Changping] (白雪仙 [Pak Suet-sin]), 帝女花之相認:

     咪玷辱觀音　只怨你今世不配有駙馬名 [Cantonese, trad.]
     咪玷辱观音　只怨你今世不配有驸马名 [Cantonese, simp.]

     mai⁵ dim³ juk⁶ gun¹ jam¹, zi² jyun³ nei⁵ gam¹ sai³ bat¹ pui³ jau⁵ fu⁶ maa⁵ ming⁴ [Jyutping]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 別 (“do not”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Classical Chinese		勿, 莫1, 毋, 無
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		別, 不要, 勿, 別要 chiefly Hong Kong
Northeastern Mandarin	Beijing	別, 別價
	Taiwan	別, 不要
	Harbin	別
	Malaysia	不要
	Singapore	不要
Jilu Mandarin	Jinan	別, 別價, 甭價, 不要
Jiaoliao Mandarin	Yantai (Muping)	別
Central Plains Mandarin	Luoyang	嫑, 甭1, 休
	Wanrong	嫑, 不要
	Xi'an	嫑, 不敢
	Xining	嫑
	Xuzhou	嫑, 休
Lanyin Mandarin	Lanzhou	不要
	Ürümqi	嫑
Southwestern Mandarin	Chengdu	莫1, 不要, 嫑
	Wuhan	莫1, 不
	Guiyang	不要
	Guilin	莫1
	Liuzhou	莫1, 莫要
	Xiangtan (Jiangnan Industries Group koine)	莫1
Jianghuai Mandarin	Nanjing	不要
	Yangzhou	莫1, 不要
	Hefei	別, 不要
Cantonese	Guangzhou	咪, 咪個, 唔好
	Hong Kong	咪, 唔好, 冇, 咪個 dated
	Hong Kong (San Tin; Weitou)	唔好
	Macau	唔要
	Foshan (Shunde)	咪
	Zhongshan (Shiqi)	咪
	Zhuhai (Doumen)	唔好
	Taishan	唔好
	Kaiping (Chikan)	唔好
	Dongguan	咪, 唔好
	Shaoguan	咪
	Yunfu	咪, 唔好
	Yangjiang	莫1, 無好
	Xinyi	毛
	Lianjiang	冇
	Nanning	冇要
	Kuala Lumpur (Guangfu)	咪
	Singapore (Guangfu)	咪, 唔好
Gan	Nanchang	莫1
	Lichuan	毋要, 不要
	Pingxiang	不要
Hakka	Meixian	莫1, 毋愛, 毋好
	Xingning	毋愛
	Huidong (Daling)	毋好
	Shaoguan (Qujiang)	毋好
	Lianshan (Xiaosanjiang)	毋好
	Changting	毋要
	Liancheng	毋要
	Ninghua	毋要
	Yudu	毋要, 毋敢
	Ruijin	毋要
	Shicheng	毋要
	Shangyou (Shexi)	毋要
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	毋好
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	毋好
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	毋好
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	毋好
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	毋好
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	毋好
	Hong Kong	毋好
	Sabah (Longchuan)	毋愛
	Senai (Huiyang)	毋好
	Kuching (Hepo)	唔愛
Huizhou	Jixi	不要, 嫑
	Shexian	不要, 嫑
	Huangshan (Tunxi)	不要, 嫑
Jin	Taiyuan	不要, 不敢
	Xinzhou	不要, 嫑, 播
Northern Min	Jian'ou	伓敢, 伓讓, 毋
	Pucheng (Shibei)	伓敢
Eastern Min	Fuzhou	伓通, 毋
	Fuqing	伓通
	Matsu	毋
Southern Min	Xiamen	毋通, 毋愛, 莫2, 𱰠, 莫用, 汰
	Quanzhou	毋通, 毋愛, 甭2, 莫用, 汰
	Zhangzhou	毋通, 莫2, 甭2, 𱰠, 莫用, 汰
	Zhao'an	孬
	Taipei	莫2
	New Taipei (Sanxia)	莫去
	Kaohsiung	莫2
	Yilan	毋通, 莫2
	Changhua (Lukang)	莫2
	Tainan	莫2, 甭2
	Penang (Hokkien)	莫2, 毋通, 甭2
	Singapore (Hokkien)	莫2, 毋通, 甭2
	Manila (Hokkien)	毋通, 甭2
	Pingnan (Shangdu)	別
	Chaozhou	孬, 莫2
	Shantou	孬, 莫2
	Shantou (Chaoyang)	莫2
	Jieyang	孬, 莫2
	Haifeng	莫2
	Ho Chi Minh City (Teochew)	孬
	Johor Bahru (Teochew)	孬
	Penang (Teochew)	莫2
	Singapore (Teochew)	莫2, 孬
	Leizhou	無地
	Haikou	無用, 莫2, 無莫
	Qionghai	無用
	Singapore (Hainanese)	無用
Southern Pinghua	Nanning (Tingzi)	冇要
Wu	Shanghai	勿要, 𧟰
	Shanghai (Chongming)	拗
	Suzhou	𧟰
	Wuxi	𧟰
	Nantong (Haimen)	拗, 拗要, 弗要
	Danyang	弗要, 𫸻
	Hangzhou	嫑
	Hangzhou (Yuhang)	弗要, 消, 𧟰
	Ningbo	莫, 甮
	Wenzhou	𧟰
	Lishui	⿰毋樂
	Qingyuan	⿰否樂
	Jinhua	𫸻, 弗要, 弗用
Xiang	Changsha	莫1, 不要
	Loudi	不要, 莫1
	Shuangfeng	莫1
	Quanzhou	別

Compounds

• 咪住
• 咪個 / 咪个
• 咪個自 / 咪个自
• 咪制
• 咪拘
• 咪搞
• 咪自
• 咪話 / 咪话

Etymology 5

Borrowed from English microphone or mic.

Pronunciation

• Cantonese (Jyutping): mai¹
• Hakka (Meixian, Guangdong): mai¹

---

• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong–Macau)
    • Jyutping: mai¹
    • Yale: māi
    • Cantonese Pinyin: mai¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: mei¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mɐi̯⁵⁵/
• Hakka
  • (Meixian)
    • Guangdong: mai¹
    • Sinological IPA: /maɪ⁴⁴/

Definitions

咪 (Cantonese, Hakka)

1. microphone (Classifier: 支 c)

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 傳聲器 (“microphone”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		傳聲器, 微音器, 擴音器, 話筒, 麥克風
Northeastern Mandarin	Taiwan	麥克風, 話筒, 麥
	Singapore	麥克風
Cantonese	Guangzhou	咪, 話筒
	Hong Kong	咪, 咪高峰
Hakka	Meixian	咪, 麥克風, 話筒
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	麥克
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	麥克
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	麥克
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	麥克, 放送頭
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	麥克
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	麥克
Southern Min	Xiamen	麥克風, 話筒
	New Taipei (Pingxi)	麥克
	Tainan (Anping)	麥克
	Shantou	麥克風, 話筒
Wu	Shanghai	麥克風, 話筒
	Wenzhou	話筒, 麥

Compounds

• 入咪
• 咪架
• 噴咪 / 喷咪
• 封咪
• 扑咪
• 爆咪
• 開咪 / 开咪

Etymology 6

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): mǐ (mi³)

  (Zhuyin): ㄇㄧˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): mai⁵

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: mǐ
    • Zhuyin: ㄇㄧˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: mǐ
    • Wade–Giles: mi³
    • Yale: mǐ
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: mii
    • Palladius: ми (mi)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mi²¹⁴/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong–Macau)
    • Jyutping: mai⁵
    • Yale: máih
    • Cantonese Pinyin: mai⁵
    • Guangdong Romanization: mei⁵
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mɐi̯¹³/

Definitions

咪

1. only used in 咪唑 (mǐzuò, “imidazole”)

Etymology 7

Borrowed from English mile.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): mī (mi¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄇㄧ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): mai¹

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: mī
    • Zhuyin: ㄇㄧ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: mi
    • Wade–Giles: mi¹
    • Yale: mī
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: mhi
    • Palladius: ми (mi)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mi⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong–Macau)
    • Jyutping: mai¹
    • Yale: māi
    • Cantonese Pinyin: mai¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: mei¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mɐi̯⁵⁵/

Definitions

咪

1. (obsolete or Cantonese) mile

   • 蓋以七千餘咪之路線為吾人計劃所定者，皆在坦途。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     盖以七千余咪之路线为吾人计划所定者，皆在坦途。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 1917-1920, s:zh:物質建設/第一計劃

     Gài yǐ qī qiān yú mī zhī lùxiàn wèi wú rén jìhuà suǒ dìng zhě, jiē zài tǎntú. [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   • 青山公路18¾咪加多利灣泳灘 [Cantonese, trad.]
     青山公路18¾咪加多利湾泳滩 [Cantonese, simp.]

     From: Address plate of Kadoorie Beach

     cing¹ saan¹ gung¹ lou⁶ 18¾ mai¹ gaa¹ do¹ lei⁶ waan¹ wing⁶ taan¹ [Jyutping]

     Kadoorie Beach, 18¾ milestone, Castle Peak Road

2. (Cantonese, informal) mile per hour
3. (Cantonese, informal) kilometre per hour

   呢度行六十咪㗎咋喎。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   呢度行六十咪㗎咋㖞。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   nei¹ dou⁶ haang⁴ luk⁶ sap⁶ mai¹ gaa³ zaa³ wo³. [Jyutping]

   You should only be driving at 60 km/h.

Etymology 8

trad.		咪
simp. #		咪
alternative forms		冞

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

Pronunciation

• Cantonese (Jyutping): mai¹

---

• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong–Macau)
    • Jyutping: mai¹
    • Yale: māi
    • Cantonese Pinyin: mai¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: mei¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mɐi̯⁵⁵/

Definitions

咪 (Cantonese)

1. to study hard

Compounds

• 咪家
• 咪書 / 咪书

Etymology 9

trad.		咪
simp. #		咪
alternative forms		劘

Pronunciation

• Cantonese (Jyutping): mai¹

---

• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong–Macau)
    • Jyutping: mai¹
    • Yale: māi
    • Cantonese Pinyin: mai¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: mei¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mɐi̯⁵⁵/

Definitions

咪 (Cantonese)

1. to peel with a knife
2. to pinch (with fingernails)

Etymology 10

For pronunciation and definitions of 咪 – see 米 (“metre”). (This character is a variant form of 米).

Etymology 11

For pronunciation and definitions of 咪 – see 咩 (“the call of a sheep”). (This character is a variant form of 咩).

Japanese

Kanji

咪

(Hyōgai kanji)

1. baa (bleating of a sheep)
2. meter

Readings

• Go-on: み (mi)
• Kan-on: び (bi)
• Kun: メートル (mētoru, 咪)

Korean

Hanja

咪 • (mi) (hangeul 미, revised mi, McCune–Reischauer mi)

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

Vietnamese

Han character

咪: Hán Nôm readings: mễ

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

References

• Nom Foundation