謎

See also: 谜

謎 U+8B0E, 謎 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-8B0E ← 謍 [U+8B0D] CJK Unified Ideographs 謏 → [U+8B0F]

Translingual

Han character

謎 (Kangxi radical 149, 言+10, 17 strokes, cangjie input 卜口卜火木 (YRYFD), four-corner 0963₉, composition ⿰訁迷)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1174, character 31
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 35800
• Dae Jaweon: page 1639, character 16
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 6, page 4001, character 8
• Unihan data for U+8B0E

Chinese

trad.		謎
simp.		谜
alternative forms		詸 䛧

Glyph origin

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

	Old Chinese
謎	*miː, *miːs
迷	*miː
米	*miːʔ
眯	*miːʔ
洣	*miːʔ
蔝	*miːʔ
麊	*me
冞	*me
糜	*mral
敉	*meʔ
侎	*meʔ
麋	*mril
蘪	*mril
攗	*mril

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *miː, *miːs) : semantic 言 (“speech”) + phonetic 迷 (OC *miː, “to be lost”).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): mí, mì, mèi (mi², mi⁴, mei⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄇㄧˊ, ㄇㄧˋ, ㄇㄟˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): mai⁴, mai⁶
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): mì
• Eastern Min (BUC): mê
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): bê / bī / bî

  (Teochew, Peng'im): mi⁶

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: mí
    • Zhuyin: ㄇㄧˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: mí
    • Wade–Giles: mi²
    • Yale: mí
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: mi
    • Palladius: ми (mi)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mi³⁵/
      
  • (Standard Chinese, erhua-ed)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: mír
    • Zhuyin: ㄇㄧˊㄦ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: mír
    • Wade–Giles: mi²-ʼrh
    • Yale: mír
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: miel
    • Palladius: мир (mir)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /miə̯ɻ³⁵/
      
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: mì
    • Zhuyin: ㄇㄧˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: mì
    • Wade–Giles: mi⁴
    • Yale: mì
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: mih
    • Palladius: ми (mi)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mi⁵¹/
      
  • (Standard Chinese, erhua-ed)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: mìr
    • Zhuyin: ㄇㄧˋㄦ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: mìr
    • Wade–Giles: mi⁴-ʼrh
    • Yale: mìr
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: miell
    • Palladius: мир (mir)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /miə̯ɻ⁵¹/
      
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: mèi
    • Zhuyin: ㄇㄟˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: mèi
    • Wade–Giles: mei⁴
    • Yale: mèi
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: mey
    • Palladius: мэй (mɛj)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /meɪ̯⁵¹/
      
  • (Standard Chinese, erhua-ed)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: mèir
    • Zhuyin: ㄇㄟˋㄦ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: mèir
    • Wade–Giles: mei⁴-ʼrh
    • Yale: mèir
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: mell
    • Palladius: мэйр (mɛjr)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /məɻ⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: mai⁴, mai⁶
    • Yale: màih, maih
    • Cantonese Pinyin: mai⁴, mai⁶
    • Guangdong Romanization: mei⁴, mei⁶
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mɐi̯²¹/, /mɐi̯²²/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: mì
    • Hakka Romanization System: miˇ
    • Hagfa Pinyim: mi²
    • Sinological IPA: /mi¹¹/
• Eastern Min
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: mê
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mɛi²⁴²/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou, variant in Taiwan, Xiamen, Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bê
    • Tâi-lô: bê
    • Phofsit Daibuun: bee
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /be²³/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /be¹³/
    • IPA (Quanzhou, Taipei, Xiamen): /be²⁴/
  • (Hokkien: General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bī
    • Tâi-lô: bī
    • Phofsit Daibuun: bi
    • IPA (Taipei, Kaohsiung): /bi³³/
  • (Hokkien: variant in Taiwan)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bî
    • Tâi-lô: bî
    • Phofsit Daibuun: bii
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /bi²³/
    • IPA (Taipei): /bi²⁴/
  • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: mi⁶
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: mĭ
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mi³⁵/

---

• Middle Chinese: mejH

Rime
Character	謎
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	明 (4)
Final (韻)	齊 (39)
Tone (調)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	IV
Fanqie	莫計切
Baxter	mejH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/meiH/
Pan Wuyun	/meiH/
Shao Rongfen	/mɛiH/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/mɛjH/
Li Rong	/meiH/
Wang Li	/mieiH/
Bernard Karlgren	/mieiH/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	mì
Expected Cantonese Reflex	mai6

• Old Chinese

  (Zhengzhang): /*miː/, /*miːs/

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	謎	謎
Reading #	1/2	2/2
No.	9001	9007
Phonetic component	米	米
Rime group	脂	脂
Rime subdivision	2	2
Corresponding MC rime		謎
Old Chinese	/*miː/	/*miːs/

Definitions

謎

1. puzzle; riddle
2. mystery; enigma

Synonyms

• (puzzle): 謎語／谜语 (míyǔ)
• (mystery): 精微 (jīngwēi), 謎團／谜团 (mítuán), 疑團／疑团 (yítuán)

Compounds

• 一謎／一谜
• 啞謎／哑谜
• 商謎／商谜
• 囫圇謎／囫囵谜
• 字謎／字谜 (zìmí)
• 打啞謎／打哑谜
• 打燈謎／打灯谜
• 打謎／打谜
• 撒謎語／撒谜语
• 燈謎／灯谜 (dēngmí)
• 猜啞謎／猜哑谜
• 猜謎／猜谜
• 破謎兒／破谜儿
• 解謎／解谜 (jiěmí)
• 詩謎／诗谜
• 謎兒／谜儿
• 謎團／谜团 (mítuán)
• 謎學／谜学
• 謎寐／谜寐
• 謎底／谜底 (mídǐ)
• 謎言謎語／谜言谜语
• 謎語／谜语 (míyǔ)
• 謎面／谜面 (mímiàn)
• 謎頭／谜头
• 謎題／谜题

 

References

• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A03871

Japanese

Kanji

謎

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

1. riddle
2. puzzle
3. enigma
4. hint
5. tip

Readings

• Go-on: まい (mai)
• Kan-on: べい (bei)
• Kan’yō-on: めい (mei)
• Kun: なぞ (nazo, 謎, Jōyō)

Etymology

Kanji in this term
謎
なぞ Grade: S
kun’yomi

For pronunciation and definitions of 謎 – see the following entry.

【なぞ】 [noun] mystery; puzzle [adverb] Alternative form of なんぞ (nan zo)

(This term, 謎, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)

Korean

Hanja

謎 (eumhun 수수께끼 미 (susukkekki mi))

1. Hanja form^? of 미 (“riddle”).

Compounds

• 미제 (謎題, mije, “conundrum”)