蛾眉

Chinese

		moth	eyebrow; upper margin
simp. and trad. (蛾眉)		蛾	眉
alternative forms		娥眉

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): éméi

  (Zhuyin): ㄜˊ ㄇㄟˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): ngo⁴ mei⁴
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): gô-bâi

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)
    • Hanyu Pinyin: éméi
    • Zhuyin: ㄜˊ ㄇㄟˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: éméi
    • Wade–Giles: o²-mei²
    • Yale: é-méi
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: ermei
    • Palladius: эмэй (emɛj)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ˀɤ³⁵ meɪ̯³⁵/
    • Homophones:

      [Show/Hide]
      edit edit 峨嵋 峨眉 蛾眉

• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: ngo⁴ mei⁴
    • Yale: ngòh mèih
    • Cantonese Pinyin: ngo⁴ mei⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: ngo⁴ méi⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ŋɔː²¹ mei̯²¹/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: gô-bâi
    • Tâi-lô: gô-bâi
    • Phofsit Daibuun: goi'baai
    • IPA (Xiamen): /ɡo²⁴⁻²² bai²⁴/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /ɡo²⁴⁻²² bai²⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /ɡo¹³⁻²² bai¹³/
    • IPA (Taipei): /ɡo²⁴⁻¹¹ bai²⁴/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /ɡɤ²³⁻³³ bai²³/

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• Middle Chinese: nga mij

Rime
Character	蛾	眉
Reading #	1/2	1/1
Initial (聲)	疑 (31)	明 (4)
Final (韻)	歌 (94)	脂 (17)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	I	III
Fanqie	五何切	武悲切
Baxter	nga	mij
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ŋɑ/	/mˠiɪ/
Pan Wuyun	/ŋɑ/	/mᵚi/
Shao Rongfen	/ŋɑ/	/miɪ/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ŋa/	/mji/
Li Rong	/ŋɑ/	/mji/
Wang Li	/ŋɑ/	/mi/
Bernhard Karlgren	/ŋɑ/	/mi/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	é	mí
Expected Cantonese Reflex	ngo4	mei4

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*ŋˤaj  mr[ə][r]/

  (Zhengzhang): /*ŋaːl  mril/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	蛾	眉
Reading #	1/2	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	é	méi
Middle Chinese	‹ nga ›	‹ mij ›
Old Chinese	/*ŋˁaj/	/*mr[ə][r]/
English	silkworm moth [Bombyx]	eyebrow
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	蛾	眉
Reading #	1/2	1/1
No.	13036	8938
Phonetic component	我	眉
Rime group	歌	脂
Rime subdivision	1	1
Corresponding MC rime	莪	眉
Old Chinese	/*ŋaːl/	/*mril/
Notes	見荀子，說文下從二蟲

Noun

蛾眉

1. (literary) woman's long and slender eyebrows (resembling the feathery feelers of a moth)
2. (literary, metonymic) beautiful woman

   • 宛轉蛾眉馬前死。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     宛转蛾眉马前死。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 806: Bai Juyi, Song of Everlasting Regret

     Wǎnzhuǎn éméi mǎ qián sǐ. [Pinyin]

     The writhing fair maiden, whose long and slender eyebrows resembled the feathery feelers of a moth, died in front of the horses.

Derived terms

• 峨嵋 (Éméi)
• 峨眉 (Éméi)
• 淡掃蛾眉 / 淡扫蛾眉
• 皓齒蛾眉 / 皓齿蛾眉
• 自然蛾眉
• 蛾眉月 (éméiyuè)
• 蛾眉班
• 蛾眉皓齒 / 蛾眉皓齿
• 蛾眉螓首
• 蛾眉豆
• 螓首蛾眉
• 顰蛾眉 / 颦蛾眉