渺

渺 U+6E3A, 渺 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-6E3A ← 渹 [U+6E39] CJK Unified Ideographs 渻 → [U+6E3B]

Translingual

Han character

渺 (Kangxi radical 85, 水+9, 12 strokes, cangjie input 水月山竹 (EBUH), four-corner 3912₀, composition ⿰氵眇)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 635, character 17
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 17794
• Dae Jaweon: page 1043, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 1673, character 12
• Unihan data for U+6E3A

Chinese

simp. and trad.		渺
alternative forms		淼 “vast”

Glyph origin

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

	Old Chinese
觘	*sm̥ʰreːw, *sm̥ʰreːws
抄	*sm̥ʰreːw, *sm̥ʰreːws
鈔	*sm̥ʰreːw, *sm̥ʰreːws
訬	*sm̥ʰreːw, *mewʔ
炒	*sʰroːʔ
吵	*sm̥ʰreːwʔ, *mewʔ
耖	*sm̥ʰreːws
仯	*sm̥ʰreːws
眇	*mewʔ
渺	*mewʔ
杪	*mewʔ
秒	*mewʔ
篎	*mewʔ, *mews
妙	*mews
玅	*mews
釥	*sm̥ʰewʔ
小	*smewʔ
少	*hmjewʔ, *hmjews
麨	*m̥ʰjewʔ
尠	*senʔ, *smos

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *mewʔ) : semantic 氵 + phonetic 眇 (OC *mewʔ).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): miǎo (miao³)

  (Zhuyin): ㄇㄧㄠˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): miu⁵
• Eastern Min (BUC): miēu
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): biáu

  (Teochew, Peng'im): miou²

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: miǎo
    • Zhuyin: ㄇㄧㄠˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: miǎo
    • Wade–Giles: miao³
    • Yale: myǎu
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: meau
    • Palladius: мяо (mjao)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mi̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: miu⁵
    • Yale: míuh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: miu⁵
    • Guangdong Romanization: miu⁵
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /miːu̯¹³/
• Eastern Min
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: miēu
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mieu³³/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: biáu
    • Tâi-lô: biáu
    • Phofsit Daibuun: biao
    • IPA (Xiamen): /biau⁵³/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /biau⁵⁵⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /biau⁵³/
    • IPA (Taipei): /biau⁵³/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /biau⁴¹/
  • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: miou²
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: mióu
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /miou⁵²/

---

• Middle Chinese: mjiewX

Rime
Character	渺
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	明 (4)
Final (韻)	宵 (91)
Tone (調)	Rising (X)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	III
Fanqie	亡沼切
Baxter	mjiewX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/miᴇuX/
Pan Wuyun	/miɛuX/
Shao Rongfen	/mjæuX/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/miawX/
Li Rong	/miɛuX/
Wang Li	/mĭɛuX/
Bernhard Karlgren	/mi̯ɛuX/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	miǎo
Expected Cantonese Reflex	miu5

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*[m]ewʔ/

  (Zhengzhang): /*mewʔ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	渺
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	miǎo
Middle Chinese	‹ mjiewX ›
Old Chinese	/*[m]ewʔ/
English	vast (of water)
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	渺
Reading #	1/1
No.	13695
Phonetic component	小
Rime group	宵
Rime subdivision	2
Corresponding MC rime	眇
Old Chinese	/*mewʔ/

Definitions

渺

1. (of water) vast; boundless; endlessly long; expansive
2. (alt. form 眇) tiny; insignificant
3. vague; indistinct; uncertain
4. (obsolete) the number 10^-11

Compounds

• 微渺
• 杳渺
• 浩渺 (hàomiǎo)
• 深渺
• 淼渺
• 渺不可測／渺不可测
• 渺不相涉
• 渺小 (miǎoxiǎo)
• 渺彌／渺弥
• 渺渺
• 渺渺冥冥
• 渺渺茫茫
• 渺漫
• 渺瀰／渺弥
• 渺然
• 渺無聲息／渺无声息
• 渺視／渺视 (miǎoshì)
• 渺茫 (miǎománg)
• 渺邈
• 煙波浩渺／烟波浩渺
• 縹渺／缥渺
• 荒渺不經／荒渺不经
• 茫茫渺渺
• 飄渺／飘渺 (piāomiǎo)
• 魚沉雁渺／鱼沉雁渺

 

See also

Chinese historical small numbers
Value	Character	Notes
10-1	分 (fèn)	Still in use. SI prefix deci-.
10-2	厘 (lí), 釐 (lí)	Still in use. SI prefix centi-.
10-3	毫 (háo)	Still in use. SI prefix milli-. Also 毛 (máo).
10-4	絲／丝 (sī)	Rarely used today.
	秒 (miǎo)	Obsolete, only in ancient texts.
10-5	忽 (hū)	Rarely used today.
10-6	微 (wēi)	Still in use. SI prefix micro-.
10-7	纖／纤 (xiān)	Obsolete.
10-8	沙 (shā)	Obsolete.
10-9	塵／尘 (chén)	Obsolete. 納／纳 (nà) and 奈 (nài) are used for nano-.
10-10	埃 (āi)	Obsolete. In modern use, the character for angstrom (10-10 m).
10-11	渺 (miǎo)	Obsolete.
10-12	漠 (mò)	Obsolete. 皮 (pí) is used for SI prefix pico-.

Japanese

Kanji

渺

(Hyōgai kanji)

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

Readings

• Go-on: みょう (myō)
• Kan-on: びょう (byō)
• Kun: ひろい (hiroi, 渺い)、はるか (haruka, 渺か)
• Nanori: ひろ (hiro)

Korean

Hanja

渺 • (myo) (hangeul 묘, revised myo, McCune–Reischauer myo, Yale myo)

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

Vietnamese

Han character

渺: Hán Nôm readings: miểu, diễu, diệu, giẻo

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