明珠

Chinese

		clear; bright; to understand clear; bright; to understand; next; the Ming dynasty	pearl; bead
simp. and trad. (明珠)		明	珠

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): míngzhū

  (Zhuyin): ㄇㄧㄥˊ ㄓㄨ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): ming⁴ zyu¹
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): mìn-chû
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): bêng-chu

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: míngzhū
    • Zhuyin: ㄇㄧㄥˊ ㄓㄨ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: míngjhu
    • Wade–Giles: ming²-chu¹
    • Yale: míng-jū
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: mingju
    • Palladius: минчжу (minčžu)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /miŋ³⁵ ʈ͡ʂu⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: ming⁴ zyu¹
    • Yale: mìhng jyū
    • Cantonese Pinyin: ming⁴ dzy¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: ming⁴ ju¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mɪŋ²¹ t͡syː⁵⁵/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: mìn-chû
    • Hakka Romanization System: min^ˇ zu^ˊ
    • Hagfa Pinyim: min² zu¹
    • Sinological IPA: /min¹¹ t͡su²⁴/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bêng-chu
    • Tâi-lô: bîng-tsu
    • Phofsit Daibuun: bengzw
    • IPA (Xiamen): /biɪŋ²⁴⁻²² t͡su⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /biɪŋ²⁴⁻²² t͡su³³/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /biɪŋ¹³⁻²² t͡su⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Taipei): /biɪŋ²⁴⁻¹¹ t͡su⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /biɪŋ²³⁻³³ t͡su⁴⁴/

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• Middle Chinese: mjaeng tsyu

Rime
Character	明	珠
Reading #	1/1	1/1
Initial (聲)	明 (4)	章 (23)
Final (韻)	庚 (111)	虞 (24)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open	Closed
Division (等)	III	III
Fanqie	武兵切	章俱切
Baxter	mjaeng	tsyu
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/mˠiæŋ/	/t͡ɕɨo/
Pan Wuyun	/mᵚiaŋ/	/t͡ɕio/
Shao Rongfen	/miaŋ/	/t͡ɕio/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/miajŋ/	/cuə̆/
Li Rong	/miɐŋ/	/t͡ɕio/
Wang Li	/mĭɐŋ/	/t͡ɕĭu/
Bernhard Karlgren	/mi̯ɐŋ/	/t͡ɕi̯u/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	míng	zhū
Expected Cantonese Reflex	ming4	zyu1

• Old Chinese

  (Zhengzhang): /*mraŋ  tjo/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	明
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	míng
Middle Chinese	‹ mjæng ›
Old Chinese	/*mraŋ/
English	bright
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	明	珠
Reading #	1/1	1/1
No.	9188	17568
Phonetic component	明	朱
Rime group	陽	侯
Rime subdivision	0	0
Corresponding MC rime	明	朱
Old Chinese	/*mraŋ/	/*tjo/

Noun

明珠

1. (literally) shiny pearl
2. (figurative) treasured person or thing; jewel; pearl
3. (archaic, Taoism) eye; eyes

Synonyms

• (pearl):

edit

• 珍珠 (zhēnzhū)
• 珠仔 (Hakka)
• 珠子 (zhūzi)
• 珠璣／珠玑 (zhūjī)

 

• (treasured person or thing): 寶貝／宝贝 (bǎobèi)

Derived terms

• 仙露明珠
• 掌上明珠 (zhǎngshàngmíngzhū)
• 明珠彈雀／明珠弹雀
• 明珠暗投 (míngzhū'àntóu)
• 明珠生蚌
• 老蚌出明珠
• 薏苡明珠

 

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (明珠):

• → Japanese: 明珠(めいしゅ) (meishu)
• → Korean: 명주(明珠) (myeongju)
• → Vietnamese: minh châu (明珠)