牡蠣

See also: 牡蛎

Chinese

		phonetic	oyster
trad. (牡蠣)		牡	蠣
simp. (牡蛎)		牡	蛎

Etymology

Probably from 蠣 (OC *mə-rat-s), with the preinitial *mə- written out as 牡 (Baxter and Sagart, 2020).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): mǔlì

  (Zhuyin): ㄇㄨˇ ㄌㄧˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): maau⁵ lai⁶ / mau⁵ lai⁶

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: mǔlì
    • Zhuyin: ㄇㄨˇ ㄌㄧˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: mǔlì
    • Wade–Giles: mu³-li⁴
    • Yale: mǔ-lì
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: muulih
    • Palladius: мули (muli)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mu²¹⁴⁻²¹ li⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: maau⁵ lai⁶ / mau⁵ lai⁶
    • Yale: máauh laih / máuh laih
    • Cantonese Pinyin: maau⁵ lai⁶ / mau⁵ lai⁶
    • Guangdong Romanization: mao⁵ lei⁶ / meo⁵ lei⁶
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /maːu̯¹³ lɐi̯²²/, /mɐu̯¹³ lɐi̯²²/

Noun

牡蠣

1. oyster
   • 2005, 5:51 from the start, in 《我的野蠻奶奶》 [Wars of In-laws]‎^[1], episode 6, spoken by 喜塔臘鑠蘭 [Hei Tat-Lap Sheok Lan] (汪明荃 [Liza Wang]):

     呢一碗呢就係阿膠熟地煲牡蠣，滋陰補氣，養血固胎嘅。 [Cantonese, trad.]
     呢一碗呢就系阿胶熟地煲牡蛎，滋阴补气，养血固胎嘅。 [Cantonese, simp.]

     ni¹ jat¹ wun² ne¹ zau⁶ hai⁶ o¹ gaau¹ suk⁶ dei⁶ bou¹ maau⁵ lai⁶, zi¹ jam¹ bou² hei³, joeng⁵ hyut³ gu³ toi¹ ge³. [Jyutping]

     This bowl is oysters with donkey-hide gelatin and rehmannia, for enriching yin, tonifying qi, nourishing blood, and securing the foetus.

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 牡蠣 (“oyster”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Classical Chinese		蠣, 蠔, 牡蠣, 牡蛤, 蠣蛤, 古賁
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		牡蠣, 蠔, 海蠣子, 海蠣
Taxonomic name		牡蠣
Northeastern Mandarin	Taiwan	牡蠣, 蚵仔, 蚵
	Malaysia	蠔
	Singapore	蠔
Jiaoliao Mandarin	Yantai (Muping)	海蠣子
Southwestern Mandarin	Nanning (Wuming)	蠔
Cantonese	Guangzhou	蠔
	Hong Kong	蠔, 生蠔
	Dongguan	蠔
	Yangjiang	蠔
	Kuala Lumpur (Guangfu)	蠔
	Singapore (Guangfu)	蠔
Hakka	Meixian	蠔
	Longmen (Luxi; Bendihua)	生蠔
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	蚵仔
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	蚵仔
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	蚵仔
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	蚵
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	蚵仔
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	蚵
Northern Min	Jian'ou	蠣黃
Eastern Min	Fuzhou	蠣
	Lianjiang	八蠣
	Fuqing	蠣
	Matsu	蠣
	Singapore (Fuqing)	蠣
Southern Min	Xiamen	蚵仔, 蚵
	Quanzhou	蚵仔, 蚵
	Zhangzhou	蚵仔, 蚵
	Zhangzhou (Changtai)	蚵仔
	Zhao'an	蚵仔
	Taipei	蚵仔
	New Taipei (Sanxia)	蚵
	Kaohsiung	蚵仔
	Yilan	蚵仔
	Changhua (Lukang)	蚵仔
	Taichung	蚵仔
	Taichung (Wuqi)	蚵
	Tainan	蚵仔
	Taitung	蚵仔
	Hsinchu	蚵仔
	Kinmen	蚵
	Penghu (Magong)	蚵
	Penang (Hokkien)	蚵
	Singapore (Hokkien)	蚵
	Manila (Hokkien)	蚵仔
	Chaozhou	蠔
	Shantou	蠔, 水生
	Shantou (Chenghai)	蠔
	Nan'ao (Houzhai)	蠔
	Nan'ao (Yun'ao)	蠔仔
	Jieyang	蠔, 水生, 水魚
	Haifeng	蠔
	Singapore (Teochew)	蠔
	Leizhou	蠔
	Wenchang	蠔
Puxian Min	Putian	蚮
	Putian (Donghai, Chengxiang)	蠔
	Putian (Jiangkou, Hanjiang)	蚮
	Putian (Nanri, Xiuyu)	蚮
	Xianyou	蚮, 蠔
	Xianyou (Fengting)	蠔
	Xianyou (Youyang)	蚮
Wu	Ningbo	蠣黃
	Wenzhou	蠣膏

Derived terms

• 牡蠣煎／牡蛎煎
• 鍛牡蠣／锻牡蛎 (duànmǔlì)

 

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (牡蠣):

• → Japanese: 牡(ぼ)蠣(れい) (borei)
• → Korean: 모려(牡蠣) (moryeo)

Japanese

牡蠣 (kaki, borei): an opened oyster.

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
牡	蠣
Jinmeiyō	Hyōgai
irregular

Alternative spellings
硴 蠣 牡蛎 (shinjitai) 蛎

Probably a shift from either:

• 掻き (kaki, “scratching, scraping”), the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 掻く (kaku, “to scratch, to scrape”), from the way that oysters are harvested by scraping them off of the oyster bed
• 欠き (kaki, “breaking, chipping”), the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 欠く (kaku, “to break, to chip”), from the way that one must break or chip an oyster shell to get at the meat

The spelling is from Chinese 牡蠣／牡蛎 (mǔlì), as an example of jukujikun (熟字訓).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) かき [káꜜkì] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [ka̠kʲi]

Noun

牡蠣(かき) or 牡蠣(カキ) • (kaki) 

1. oyster (edible)

Usage notes

As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts (where katakana is customary), as カキ.

Derived terms

• 真牡蠣(マガキ) (magaki)

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
牡	蠣
ぼ Jinmeiyō	れい Hyōgai
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese 牡蠣 (MC muwX ljejH).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ぼれー [bòréé] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [bo̞ɾe̞ː]

Noun

牡(ぼ)蠣(れい) • (borei) 

1. an oyster
2. (traditional Chinese medicine) roasted and powdered oyster shell, used in antacids, sedatives, and as a bird feed additive

See also

• 真珠貝(しんじゅがい) (shinjugai, “pearl oyster”) (inedible)

Further reading

• Etymology entry for 牡蠣 at Gogen Jiten (Etymology Dictionary; in Japanese): http://gogen-allguide.com/ka/kaki_kai.html
• Etymology entry for 牡蠣 at Japan Dictionary (in Japanese): http://www.nihonjiten.com/data/45551.html