蔑

See also: 衊

蔑 U+8511, 蔑 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-8511 ← 蔐 [U+8510] CJK Unified Ideographs 蔒 → [U+8512]

Translingual

Han character

蔑 (Kangxi radical 140, 艸+11, 15 strokes in traditional Chinese and Korean, 14 strokes in mainland China and Japanese, cangjie input 廿田中戈 (TWLI), four-corner 4425₃, composition ⿱𦭝戍 or ⿳艹罒戍)

Antonyms

• 尊

Derived characters

• 㒝 𡃙 幭 瀎 懱 㩢 𣋻 櫗 䁾 礣 襪 䌩 蠛 衊 鑖 䩏 韈 韤 䯦 𩴾 鱴 𪇴 𩆪 𤻻

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1054, character 3
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 31781
• Dae Jaweon: page 1516, character 26
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 5, page 3279, character 8
• Unihan data for U+8511

Chinese

trad.		蔑
simp. #		蔑

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 蔑
Shang	Western Zhou
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions

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

	Old Chinese
礣	*mreːd
蔑	*meːd, *meːd
篾	*meːd
蠛	*meːd
懱	*meːd
幭	*meːd
鱴	*meːd
衊	*meːd
瀎	*meːd, *maːd
襪	*mad
韤	*mad
韈	*mad

Ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意) : 𦰋 (“person”) + 戈 (“dagger-axe”) – a weapon striking a person's lower leg.

𦰋 (“person”) was composed of an eye with eyebrows (now written 眉) on top of 人. The eye and eyebrows are written ⿱艹罒 in the modern form of 蔑, and 人 has combined with 戈 to form 戍.

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): miè (mie⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄇㄧㄝˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): mit⁶
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): bia̍t

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: miè
    • Zhuyin: ㄇㄧㄝˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: miè
    • Wade–Giles: mieh⁴
    • Yale: myè
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: mieh
    • Palladius: ме (me)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mi̯ɛ⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: mit⁶
    • Yale: miht
    • Cantonese Pinyin: mit⁹
    • Guangdong Romanization: mid⁶
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /miːt̚²/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bia̍t
    • Tâi-lô: bia̍t
    • Phofsit Daibuun: biat
    • IPA (Xiamen): /biɛt̚⁴/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /biɛt̚²⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /biɛt̚¹²¹/
    • IPA (Taipei): /biɛt̚⁴/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /biɛt̚⁴/

---

• Middle Chinese: met

Rime
Character	蔑
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	明 (4)
Final (韻)	屑 (87)
Tone (調)	Checked (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	IV
Fanqie	莫結切
Baxter	met
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/met̚/
Pan Wuyun	/met̚/
Shao Rongfen	/mɛt̚/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/mɛt̚/
Li Rong	/met̚/
Wang Li	/miet̚/
Bernhard Karlgren	/miet̚/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	miè
Expected Cantonese Reflex	mit6

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*mˤet/

  (Zhengzhang): /*meːd/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	蔑
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	miè
Middle Chinese	‹ met ›
Old Chinese	/*mˁet/
English	destroy; not have
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	蔑	蔑
Reading #	1/2	2/2
No.	9116	9118
Phonetic component	蔑	蔑
Rime group	月	月
Rime subdivision	2	2
Corresponding MC rime	蔑	蔑
Old Chinese	/*meːd/	/*meːd/
Notes	金文從伐𥄕聲或眉聲， 兼殺滅伐功義

Definitions

蔑

1. to belittle; to disdain; to despise
2. to extinguish; to obliterate
3. to discard
4. slight; small; lowly
5. nothing; none
6. (of the eye) red and swollen, making one unable to see clearly

Synonyms

• 藐 (miǎo)
• 鄙 (bǐ)

Compounds

• 侮蔑 (wǔmiè)
• 吉蔑 (Jímiè)
• 方斯蔑如
• 毀廉蔑恥 / 毁廉蔑耻
• 污蔑 (wūmiè)
• 蔑如
• 蔑棄 / 蔑弃
• 蔑視 / 蔑视 (mièshì)
• 蔑蒙
• 誣蔑 / 诬蔑 (wūmiè)
• 輕蔑 / 轻蔑 (qīngmiè)

Etymology 2

For pronunciation and definitions of 蔑 – see 衊 (“dirty blood; to smear; etc.”). (This character is the simplified form of 衊).

Notes: Simplified Chinese is mainly used in Mainland China, Malaysia, and Singapore. Traditional Chinese is mainly used in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.

References

• “蔑”, 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–

Japanese

Kanji

蔑

(Jōyō kanji)

1. nothing
2. to ignore
3. to belittle, to despise

Readings

• Go-on: めち (mechi)
• Kan-on: べつ (betsu, Jōyō)
• Kun: さげすむ (sagesumu, 蔑む, Jōyō)、ないがしろ (naigashiro, 蔑ろ)、なみする (namisuru, 蔑する)、ない (nai)

Compounds

• 軽蔑(けいべつ) (keibetsu)
• 蔑称(べっしょう) (besshō)

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 蔑 (MC met).

Recorded as Middle Korean 며ᇙ〮 (Yale: myelq) in Dongguk Jeongun (東國正韻 / 동국정운), 1448.

Recorded as Middle Korean 멸〮 (myél) (Yale: myel) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Hanja

Wikisource

蔑 (eumhun 업신여길 멸 (eopsinyeogil myeol))

1. hanja form^? of 멸 (“to belittle; to despise”)

Compounds

• 경멸 (輕蔑, gyeongmyeol)
• 능멸 (凌蔑, neungmyeol)
• 능멸 (陵蔑, neungmyeol)
• 만멸 (慢蔑, manmyeol)
• 멸대 (蔑待, myeoldae)
• 멸략 (蔑略, myeollyak)
• 멸법 (蔑法, myeolbeop)
• 멸시 (蔑視, myeolsi)
• 멸의 (蔑義, myeorui)
• 멸칭 (蔑稱, myeolching)
• 모멸 (侮蔑, momyeol)
• 자멸 (自蔑, jamyeol)

References

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [2]

Vietnamese

Han character

蔑: Hán Nôm readings: miệt

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

Compounds

• miệt thị (蔑視)