峨眉

Chinese

		lofty; name of a mountain	eyebrow; upper margin
simp. and trad. (峨眉)		峨	眉
alt. forms		峨嵋

Etymology

峨眉 derives from the word 蛾眉 (the feathery feelers of a moth), so named because the peaks of Mount Emei do in fact resemble the feelers of a moth (see pictures). The "insect" radical (虫) on the left side of the first character 蛾 was later replaced with the "mountain" radical (山). Thus, 蛾 eventually became 峨, so as to denote the mountain. The "mountain" radical can be optionally added to the second character 眉. Both 峨嵋 and 峨眉 have been used through the centuries.

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): Éméi

(Zhuyin): ㄜˊ ㄇㄟˊ

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)
  - Pinyin: Éméi
  - Zhuyin: ㄜˊ ㄇㄟˊ
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: ermei
  - IPA ^(key): /ˀɤ³⁵ meɪ̯³⁵/
  - Homophones:
    [Show/Hide]
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    峨嵋
    峨眉
    蛾眉

Proper noun

峨眉

Mount Emei

Derived terms

峨眉山 (Éméi Shān)

峨眉

note how the feelers of this moth resemble the peaks of Mount Emei (pictured above)

References

峨眉山 on the Chinese Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^zh
Mount Emei on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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