卯

See also: 卵, 卬, and 戼

卯 U+536F, 卯 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-536F ← 卮 [U+536E] CJK Unified Ideographs 印 → [U+5370]

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

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

Derived characters

• 柳, 留, 𨥫, 𠇩, 𤵠, 㚹, 𫰸, 奅, 𥄸, 聊, 𠰭, 飹, 𩛁, 𩜕, 𬣌, 㧕, 茆, 昴, 𬁬, 鉚, 鉚(铆), 珋, 貿(贸), 泖, 𬈢, 㶯, 峁, 𪨫, 𩊅, 𠁁, 𥁚, 笷, 𬆆, 𡊧, 𧖰, 𧖱, 㡻, 𡧙, 𡩰, 窌 𨴅, 𢨺, 𨋖, 𠛓, 乮, 𦊑, 𪕋, 𩖴

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 159, character 5
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 2847
• Dae Jaweon: page 363, character 15
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 311, character 5
• Unihan data for U+536F

Chinese

Glyph origin

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

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

	Old Chinese
卯	*mruːʔ
昴	*mruːʔ
泖	*mruːʔ
茆	*mruːʔ, *m·ruʔ
奅	*m̥ʰruːs
窌	*m̥ʰruːs, *m·ruː, *m·rus
聊	*m·rɯːw
貿	*mlus
鄮	*mlus
劉	*m·ru
留	*m·ru, *m·rus
蒥	*m·ru
鶹	*m·ru
騮	*m·ru
榴	*m·ru
瑠	*ru
瘤	*m·ru, *m·rus
遛	*m·ru
鎦	*m·ru
飀	*m·ru
鰡	*m·ru
嵧	*m·ru
餾	*m·ru, *m·rus
瀏	*m·ru, *m·ruʔ
懰	*m·ru, *m·ruʔ
柳	*m·ruʔ
珋	*m·ruʔ
罶	*m·ruʔ
嬼	*m·ruʔ, *m·rus
溜	*m·rus
霤	*m·rus
廇	*m·rus
塯	*m·rus

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

simp. and trad.		卯
alternative forms		丣 ‡ 戼 𩇦 𩇨 𩇧 丣 ‡ 戼 𩇦 𩇨 𩇧 𤕰 𦕔

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): mǎo (mao³)

  (Zhuyin): ㄇㄠˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): maau⁵
• Gan (Wiktionary): mau³
• Puxian Min (Pouseng Ping'ing): bao³
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): báu

  (Teochew, Peng'im): bhao²

• Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ⁶mau

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: mǎo
    • Zhuyin: ㄇㄠˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: mǎo
    • Wade–Giles: mao³
    • Yale: mǎu
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: mao
    • Palladius: мао (mao)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mɑʊ̯²¹⁴/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: maau⁵
    • Yale: máauh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: maau⁵
    • Guangdong Romanization: mao⁵
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /maːu̯¹³/
• Gan
  • (Nanchang)
    • Wiktionary: mau³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mau²¹³/
• Puxian Min
  • (Putian)
    • Pouseng Ping'ing: bao³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /pau⁴⁵³/
  • (Xianyou)
    • Pouseng Ping'ing: bao³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /pau³³²/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: báu
    • Tâi-lô: báu
    • Phofsit Daibuun: bao
    • IPA (Xiamen): /bau⁵³/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /bau⁵⁵⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /bau⁵³/
    • IPA (Taipei): /bau⁵³/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /bau⁴¹/
  • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: bhao²
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: báu
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /bau⁵²/
• Wu
  • (Northern: Shanghai)
    • Wugniu: ⁶mau
    • MiniDict: mau^去
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ³mau
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /mɔ²³/

---

• Middle Chinese: maewX

Rime
Character	卯
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	明 (4)
Final (韻)	肴 (90)
Tone (調)	Rising (X)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	II
Fanqie	莫飽切
Baxter	maewX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/mˠauX/
Pan Wuyun	/mᵚauX/
Shao Rongfen	/mauX/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/maɨwX/
Li Rong	/mauX/
Wang Li	/mauX/
Bernard Karlgren	/mauX/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	mǎo
Expected Cantonese Reflex	maau5

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*mˤruʔ/

  (Zhengzhang): /*mruːʔ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	卯
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	mǎo
Middle Chinese	‹ mæwX ›
Old Chinese	/*mˁruʔ/
English	4th earthly branch
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	卯
Reading #	1/1
No.	8871
Phonetic component	卯
Rime group	幽
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	卯
Old Chinese	/*mruːʔ/

Definitions

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

Coordinate terms

• (Chinese earthly branches) 地支 (dìzhī); 子, 丑 (chǒu), 寅 (yín), 卯 (mǎo), 辰 (chén), 巳 (sì), 午 (wǔ), 未 (wèi), 申 (shēn), 酉 (yǒu), 戌, 亥 (hài) ^{(Category: zh:Chinese earthly branches)}

Compounds

• 丁一卯二
• 剛卯／刚卯 (gāngmǎo)
• 卯上
• 卯勁／卯劲
• 卯後酒／卯后酒
• 卯時／卯时 (mǎoshí)
• 卯榫 (mǎosǔn)
• 卯正
• 卯眼 (mǎoyǎn)
• 卯睡
• 卯簿
• 卯足全力
• 卯酉
• 卯酉參辰／卯酉参辰
• 卯酉子午
• 卯酒
• 卯金刀 (Mǎojīndāo)
• 卯飲／卯饮
• 卯飯／卯饭
• 參辰卯酉／参辰卯酉
• 子午卯酉
• 子卯不樂／子卯不乐
• 寅吃卯糧／寅吃卯粮 (yínchīmǎoliáng)
• 寅支卯糧／寅支卯粮
• 應卯／应卯 (yìngmǎo)
• 應卯吃糧／应卯吃粮
• 應名點卯／应名点卯
• 打卯
• 書畫卯酉／书画卯酉
• 比卯
• 畫卯／画卯
• 脫卯／脱卯
• 點卯／点卯 (diǎnmǎo)

 

References

• “卯”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[1], 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.

Japanese

Kanji

卯

(Jinmeiyō kanji)

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

Readings

• Go-on: みょう (myō)
• Kan-on: ぼう (bō)
• Kun: う (u, 卯)

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

Kanji in this term
卯
う Jinmeiyō
kun'yomi

From 兎 (usagi, u, “rabbit”).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) う [ù] (Heiban – [0])
• (Tokyo) う [úꜜ] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [ɯ̟]

• Homophones: ウ, 鵜, 鰻, 有, 羽

Proper noun

卯(う) • (U) 

1. the Rabbit, the fourth of the twelve Earthly Branches

   Hypernyms: 十二支, 地支

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

Derived terms

• 卯(う)月(づき) (uzuki)

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
卯
ぼう Jinmeiyō
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese 卯 (mæw^X).

Proper noun

卯(ぼう) • (Bō) ^{←ばう (Bau)?}

1. the Rabbit, the fourth of the twelve Earthly Branches

   Hypernyms: 十二支, 地支

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

Korean

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”)

Vietnamese

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

Compounds

• 丁卯 (Đinh Mão)
• 乙卯 (Ất Mão)
• 己卯 (Kỷ Mão)
• 癸卯 (Qúy Mão/Quý Mão)
• 辛卯 (Tân Mão)