峨眉

Chinese

		lofty; name of a mountain	eyebrow; upper margin
trad. (峨眉)		峨	眉
simp. #(峨眉)		峨	眉
alternative forms		峨嵋

峨眉。

note how the feelers of this moth resemble the peaks of Mount Emei (pictured above)

Etymology

峨眉 derives from the word 蛾眉 (“the feathery feelers of a moth”), so named because the peaks of Mount Emei do in fact resemble the feelers of a moth (see pictures). The "insect" radical (虫) on the left side of the first character 蛾 was later replaced with the "mountain" radical (山). Thus, 蛾 eventually became 峨, so as to denote the mountain. The "mountain" radical can be optionally added to the second character 眉. Both 峨嵋 and 峨眉 have been used through the centuries.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): Éméi

  (Zhuyin): ㄜˊ ㄇㄟˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): ngo⁴ mei⁴
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): Ngô-mì
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): Ngô͘-bî / Gô-bî

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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/
• 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/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: Ngô-mì
    • Hakka Romanization System: ngo´ miˇ
    • Hagfa Pinyim: ngo¹ mi²
    • Sinological IPA: /ŋo²⁴ mi¹¹/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Ngô͘-bî
    • Tâi-lô: Ngôo-bî
    • Phofsit Daibuun: ngo'bii
    • IPA (Taipei): /ŋɔ̃²⁴⁻¹¹ bi²⁴/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /ŋɔ̃²³⁻³³ bi²³/
  • (Hokkien: variant in Taiwan)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Gô-bî
    • Tâi-lô: Gô-bî
    • Phofsit Daibuun: goi'bii
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /ɡɤ²³⁻³³ bi²³/
    • IPA (Taipei): /ɡo²⁴⁻¹¹ bi²⁴/

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• Middle Chinese: nga mij

Rime
Character	峨	眉
Reading #	1/1	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/
Bernard Karlgren	/ŋɑ/	/mi/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	é	mí
Expected Cantonese Reflex	ngo4	mei4

• Old Chinese

  (Zhengzhang): /*ŋaːl  mril/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	眉
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	méi
Middle Chinese	‹ mij ›
Old Chinese	/*mr[ə][r]/
English	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	峨	眉
Reading #	1/1	1/1
No.	13032	8938
Phonetic component	我	眉
Rime group	歌	脂
Rime subdivision	1	1
Corresponding MC rime	莪	眉
Old Chinese	/*ŋaːl/	/*mril/

Proper noun

峨眉

1. (～山) Mount Emei
2. (～鄉) Emei (a rural township in Hsinchu County, Taiwan)
3. (～縣) (historical) Emei (a historical county of China; now Emeishan City, Sichuan)