牝

Han character edit

牝 (Kangxi radical 93, 牛+2, 6 strokes, cangjie input 竹手心 (HQP), four-corner 2151₀, composition ⿰牛匕)

Derived characters edit

• 𪊯, 𪀻(𬸋)

References edit

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 697, character 2
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 19925
• Dae Jaweon: page 1109, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 1800, character 4
• Unihan data for U+725D

Glyph origin edit

Historical forms of the character 牝
Shang	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *bilʔ, *binʔ) : semantic 牛 (“cattle”) + phonetic 匕 (OC *pilʔ).

Etymology edit

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *pwi(y)-n (“female, mother, big, molar”) (STEDT, Schuessler (2007)). Cognate with Mizo pui (“(suffix or particle) full-grown female, mother (generally used of animals)”), ha-pui (“molar”); Jingpho wi ~ yi (“female”); etc.

Pronunciation edit

Definitions edit

牝

1. (of an animal) female

   Synonym: 雌 (cí)

   Antonym: 牡 (mǔ)

   • 秉心塞淵、騋牝三千。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
     秉心塞渊、𱅕牝三千。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11^th – 7^th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Bǐng xīn sèyuān, láipìn sānqiān. [Pinyin]

     'Maintaining in his heart a profound devotion to his duties; his tall mares [/ female horses] amounted to three thousand.'.

   • 在獸則牡為陽而牝為陰；……。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     在兽则牡为阳而牝为阴；……。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Shuoyuan, circa 1^st century BCE

     Zài shòu zé mǔ wéi yáng ér pìn wéi yīn;....... [Pinyin]

     Among quadrupeds, male are yang and female are yin; [...].

2. (literary) female genitalia
3. gorge; valley
4. type of keyhole in ancient times

Synonyms edit

Compounds edit

References edit

• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A02488
• “牝”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[1], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

Kanji edit

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji)

1. female (of an animal)
2. female genitalia
3. gorge, hole, hollow

Readings edit

• Go-on: びん (bin)
• Kan-on: ひん (hin)
• Kun: め (me); めす (mesu)

Hanja edit

牝 • (bin) (hangeul 빈, revised bin, McCune–Reischauer pin, Yale pin)

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

Han character edit

牝: Hán Nôm readings: tẫn

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