卯
夘Meanings
CC-CEDICT
- 1.variant of 卯[mǎo]
- 1.old variant of 卯[mǎo]
- 1.mortise (slot cut into wood to receive a tenon)
- 2.4th earthly branch: 5–7 a.m., 2nd solar month (6th March–4th April), Year of the Rabbit
- 3.ancient Chinese compass point: 90° (east)
- 4.(coll.) to concentrate one's strength (variant of 铆[mǎo])
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Wiktionary
- 1.fourth of twelve earthly branches (十二支)
- 2.rabbit (兔) of Chinese zodiac
- 3.period from 5-7 a.m.
- 4.early morning
- 5.mortise
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Etymology
The character represents a pair of knives to butcher animals. The original meaning is preserved in 劉 (OC *m·ru). An old and conservative variant is 戼. 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. According to Shuowen Jiezi, it is an open door, like 門／𨳇 (mén) but reversed; however, Xu Shen's interpretations are not based on oracle bones and bronzes. Another similar folk etymology links the character to the mortise in woodworking. 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 (chén) was arbitrarily associated with the dragon (see Ferlus, 2013).
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Stroke order
Components
Components from cjk-decomp · MIT
More examples & usage (AI)
Derived terms
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