妹

妹 (radical 38, 女+5, 8 strokes, cangjie input 女十木 (VJD), four-corner 4549₀, composition ⿰女未)

Stroke order

• KangXi: page 257, character 28
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 6138
• Dae Jaweon: page 522, character 23
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 2, page 1034, character 6
• Unihan data for U+59B9

Historical forms of the character 妹
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Small seal script

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *mɯːds) : semantic 女 (“female, woman”) + phonetic 未 (OC *mɯds).

Probably Sino-Tibetan. Proposed etymologies:

• STEDT relates it to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *mi (“girl; female; feminine suffix”), whence Apatani nyimii (“girl; woman; female”), Proto-Loloish *C-mi² (“woman”), Proto-Karen *hmɨᴮ (“female; woman”).
• Schuessler (2007) compares it to Burmese မ (ma., “sister”) (whence အစ်မ (acma., “elder sister”), ညီမ (nyima., “younger sister”)), Miju ku-mai- (“woman”), Tibetan བུད་མེད (bud med, “woman”), and also Mizo hmei (“concubine”) (> Mizo hmei-chhia (“woman; wife”)), which STEDT relates to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-maj (“widow, widower”) instead.

妹

1. younger sister
2. girl; young female
3. (Hakka) daughter
4. A surname​.

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

• Go-on: まい (mai, Jōyō); め (me)
• Kan-on: ばい (bai)
• Kun: いもうと (imōto, 妹, Jōyō); いも (imo, 妹)
• Nanori: せ (se)

⟨imo₁⟩ → */imʷo/ → /imo/

From Old Japanese.

The medial /-m-/ means "woman, female", found in a number of related terms such as 女 (me, onna, “woman”), 嫗 (omina, “elderly woman”), and 母 (omo, “mother”, archaic).

• Kun’yomi
  • (Tokyo) い​も [íꜜmò] (Atamadaka – [1])[1]
  • IPA^(key): [imo̞]

妹 (hiragana いも, rōmaji imo)

1. (archaic, said from a male speaker) a close female companion
   1. one's sister regardless of age difference
   2. one's lover or sweetheart who is the subject of marriage or is already married
      • 905–914, Kokin Wakashū (book 11, poem 485)

        かりごもの思 (おも)ひ乱 (みだ)れて我 (われ)恋 (こ)ふといも知 (し)るらめや人 (ひと)し告 (つ)げずは

        karigomo no omoimidarete ware kou to imo shirurame ya hito shi tsugezu wa

        (please add an English translation of this example)

2. (archaic, said from a female speaker) a close female companion

• 兄 (せ) (se, “close male companion, man”)

/imo ɸito/ → /imowito/ → */imowuto/ → /imoːto/

Originally a compound of 妹 (imo, “sister, close female companion”) +‎ 人 (hito, “person”).[2][3]

This is an instance of ウ音便 (u onbin, “u sound shift”), found in terms with bilabial consonants (/m/, /b/, /w/) followed by i; commonly seen in terms such as 玄人 (kurōto, “professional”), 素人 (shirōto, “amateur”), or possibly, 相撲 (sumō, “sumo”).

• Kun’yomi
  • (Tokyo) いもーと​ [ìmóótóꜜ] (Odaka – [4])[1][4][5]
  • IPA^(key): [imo̞ːto̞]

妹 (hiragana いもうと, rōmaji imōto)

1. one's own younger sister
   • 2005 January 10, Izawa, Hiroshi; Yamada, Kotaro, “第だい34話わ　復ふく讐しゅうの槍やり [Chapter 34: The Lance of Vengeance]”, in ファイアーエムブレム 覇者の剣 [Fire Emblem: Sword of Champions], volume 9 (fiction), Tokyo: Shueisha, →ISBN, page 60:

     妹 (いもうと)の仇 (かたき)だ！何 (なん)万 (まん)人 (にん)だろうが地 (じ)獄 (ごく)へ送 (おく)ってやる‼

     Imōto no kataki da! Nanmannin darō ga jigoku e okutte yaru‼

     This is for my sister! Keep coming, all of you! I’ll send you all straight to hell‼

   Antonym: 姉 (ane)

2. the wife of one's younger brother; one's sister-in-law

   Synonym: 義妹 (gimai)

3. a younger female
4. (archaic, said from a male speaker) one's sister regardless of age difference

   Antonym: 兄人 (shōto)

(alternative reading hiragana いもっ, romaji imo')

1. (Kagoshima) younger sister

Appears in The Tale of Heiji, written around the mid-12th century.

Likely a variant shift from compound 妹 (imo, “sister, close female companion”) +‎ 人 (hito, “person”) or a further shift from imōto above. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

妹 (hiragana いもと, rōmaji imoto)

1. (rare) Same as いもうと (imōto) above

妹 (hiragana いもと, rōmaji Imoto)

1. a placename

From Middle Chinese 妹 (MC muʌi^H).

妹 (hiragana まい, rōmaji mai)

1. Same as いもうと (imōto) above

妹 (hiragana まい, rōmaji Mai)

1. a female given name

妹 • (mae) (hangeul 매)

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

The medial /-m-/ means "woman, female", found in a number of related terms such as 女 (me₁, womi₁na, “woman”), 嫗 (omi₁na, “elderly woman”), and 母 (omo₁, “mother”).

妹 (imo₁ → imo) (kana いも)

1. said from a male speaker:
   1. one's sister regardless of age difference
      • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 6, poem 1007), text here

        言不問木尚妹與兄有云乎直獨子尓有之苦者

        ko₂to₂ to₁panu ki₂ sura imo to₂ se ari to₂ ipu wo tada pi₁to₂riko₁ ni aru ga kurusisa

        (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   2. one's lover or sweetheart who is the subject of marriage or is already married
      • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 3, poem 464), text here

        秋去者見乍思跡妹之殖之屋前乃石竹開家流香聞

        aki₁ saraba mi₁tutu sino₁pe₁ to₂ imo ga uwesi nipa no₂ nadesiko₁ saki₁nike₁ru ka mo

        (please add an English translation of this usage example)

2. said from a female speaker:
   1. a close female companion
      • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 4, poem 782), text here

        風高邊者雖吹為妹袖左倍所沾而苅流玉藻焉

        kaze takaku pe₁ ni pa pukedo₂mo imo ga tame₂ so₁de sape₂ nurete kareru tamamo so₂

        (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   2. one's sister regardless of age difference
3. a daughter
   • 711–712, Kojiki (poem 51)

     ...母登弊波岐美袁淤母比傅須恵幣波伊毛袁淤母比傅...

     ...mo₂to₂pe₁ pa ki₁mi₁ wo omo₂pi₁de suwepe₁ pa imo₁ wo omo₂pi₁de...

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

• 兄 (se)

• Japanese: 妹 (imo)

Shift from imo₁ above, due to either for poetic reasons, haplology, or reduction of vowel clusters; the latter which seen in 吾妹 (wagi₁mo₁).

妹 (mo₁ → mo) (kana も)

1. Same as いも (imo₁) above
   • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 20, poem 4388), text here

     多妣等弊等麻多妣爾奈理奴以弊乃母加枳世之己呂母爾阿加都枳爾迦理

     tabi₁ to₂ pe₁do₂ ma-tabi₁ ni narinu ipe₁ no₂ mo ga ki₁sesi ko₂ro₂mo ni aka tuki₁nikari

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

妹 (imu) (kana いむ)

1. (regional, Eastern Old Japanese) Same as いも (imo₁) above
   • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 20, poem 4321), text here

     可之古伎夜美許等加我布理阿須由利也加曳我牟多祢牟伊牟奈之爾志弖

     kasiko₁ki₁ ya mi₁-ko₂to₂ kagapuri asu yuri ya kaye ga muta nemu imu nasi ni site

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

妹 (muội)

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