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: 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

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. An old variant is 戼. According to Shuowen Jiezi, it is an open door, like 門／𨳇 (mén) but reversed.

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

Mandarin
(Pinyin): mǎo (mao³)
(Zhuyin): ㄇㄠˇ
Cantonese (Jyutping): maau⁵
Gan (Wiktionary): mau³
Min Nan (POJ): báu
Wu (Wiktionary): mau (T3)

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)⁺
  - Jyutping: maau⁵
  - Yale: máauh
  - Cantonese Pinyin: maau⁵
  - Guangdong Romanization: mao⁵
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /maːu̯¹³/
Gan
- (Nanchang)
  - Wiktionary: mau³
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /mau²¹³/
Min Nan
- (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/
Wu
- (Shanghainese)
  - Wiktionary: mau (T3)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /mɔ²³/

Middle Chinese: /mˠau^X/

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
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/mˠau^X/
Pan Wuyun	/mᵚau^X/
Shao Rongfen	/mau^X/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/maɨw^X/
Li Rong	/mau^X/
Wang Li	/mau^X/
Bernard Karlgren	/mau^X/
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	‹ mæw^X ›
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

fourth of twelve earthly branches (十二支)
rabbit (兔) of Chinese zodiac
period from 5-7 a.m.
early morning
mortise

Coordinate terms

(earthly branches) 地支; 子, 丑, 寅, 卯, 辰, 巳, 午, 未, 申, 酉, 戌, 亥

Compounds

丁一卯二
卯上
卯榫 (mǎosǔn)
卯正
卯眼 (mǎoyǎn)
卯睡
卯簿
卯足全力
卯酉
卯酉子午
卯酒

卯金刀 (Mǎojīndāo)
子午卯酉
打卯
比卯
卯勁／卯劲
卯後酒／卯后酒
卯時／卯时 (mǎoshí)
卯酉參辰／卯酉参辰
卯飯／卯饭
卯飲／卯饮
參辰卯酉／参辰卯酉

子卯不樂／子卯不乐
寅吃卯糧／寅吃卯粮
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
書畫卯酉／书画卯酉
畫卯／画卯
脫卯／脱卯
點卯／点卯 (diǎnmǎo)

Japanese

Kanji

卯

(“Jinmeiyō” kanji used for names)

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(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

Kun’yomi

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

Homophones: ウ, 鵜, 鰻, 有, 羽

Proper noun

卯(う) • (U)

the Rabbit, the fourth of the twelve Earthly Branches

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)^?}

the Rabbit, the fourth of the twelve Earthly Branches

Korean

Hanja

卯 (eumhun 토끼 묘 (tokki myo))

Hanja form^? of 묘 (“rabbit”).

卯 (eumhun 넷째 지지 묘 (netjjae jiji myo))

Hanja form^? of 묘 (“fourth Earthly Branch”).

Vietnamese

Han character

卯: Hán Nôm readings: mão, mẫu, méo, Mẹo, mẻo

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