兄
Meanings
CC-CEDICT
- 1.elder brother
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Wiktionary
- 1.elder brother
- 2.elder male cousin
- 3.brother (male friend of the same generation)
- 4.respectful honorific used after a name for an elder brother or any male senior: Mister; Brother
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Etymology
Ideogrammic compound (會意 /会意): 口 + 儿 to convey the idea of giving orders. The original meaning of "elder brother" refers to the fact that the elder brother gives order to the younger brothers and his sisters. Compare 令, in which an open mouth on top of the character conveys the same idea of giving orders. Similar to 欠, in which there is a kneeling man with an open mouth. From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *maŋ (“big; old; elder (brother, uncle)”) (Sagart, 1999; STEDT). Related to 孟 (OC *mraːŋs, “great; eldest brother; first”); see there for more. Schuessler (2007), instead, connects it to Proto-Lolo-Burmese *ʔwyik (“elder sibling”), which is from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ʔik (“elder brother”). Alternatively, Benedict (1972) relates it to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *bʷaŋ ~ *pʷaŋ (“(paternal) uncle; elder brother”), which is possibly also related to 伯 (OC *praːɡ, “paternal uncle; eldest brother”).
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Stroke order
Components
Components from cjk-decomp · MIT
More examples & usage (AI)
Synonyms
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Derived terms
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