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. boundless, vast

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)

Adjective

Kanji in this term
渺
びょう Hyōgai
kan'on

渺(びょう) • (byō) ^†-tari (adnominal 渺(びょう)とした (byō to shita) or 渺(びょう)たる (byō taru), adverbial 渺(びょう)と (byō to) or 渺(びょう)として (byō to shite))

1. (obsolete) boundless, limitless, vast, broad (usually in reference to water, such as the sea)
2. (obsolete) extremely tiny

Conjugation

Classical conjugation of "渺たり" (タリ活用, see Appendix:Japanese verbs.)

Stem forms
Irrealis (未然形)	渺たら	べうたら	beutara
Continuative (連用形)	渺と[1] 渺たり[2]	べうと べうたり	beuto beutari
Terminal (終止形)	渺たり	べうたり	beutari
Attributive (連体形)	渺たる	べうたる	beutaru
Realis (已然形)	渺たれ	べうたれ	beutare
Imperative (命令形)	渺たれ	べうたれ	beutare
Key constructions
Negative	渺たらず	べうたらず	beutarazu
Contrasting conjunction	渺たれど	べうたれど	beutaredo
Causal conjunction	渺たれば	べうたれば	beutareba
Conditional conjunction	渺たらば	べうたらば	beutaraba
Past tense (firsthand knowledge)	渺たりき	べうたりき	beutariki
Past tense (secondhand knowledge)	渺たりけり	べうたりけり	beutarikeri
Adverbial	渺と	べうと	beuto
[1]Without auxiliary verb. [2]With auxiliary verb.

Derived terms

• 渺渺(びょうびょう) (byōbyō)
• 渺茫(びょうぼう) (byōbō)

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}}.