美色

Chinese

		beautiful; beauty; America	colour; dice; look colour; dice; look; appearance
trad. (美色)		美	色
simp. #(美色)		美	色

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): měisè

  (Zhuyin): ㄇㄟˇ ㄙㄜˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): mei⁵ sik¹
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): bí-sek

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: měisè
    • Zhuyin: ㄇㄟˇ ㄙㄜˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: měisè
    • Wade–Giles: mei³-sê⁴
    • Yale: měi-sè
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: meeiseh
    • Palladius: мэйсэ (mɛjsɛ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /meɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ sɤ⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: mei⁵ sik¹
    • Yale: méih sīk
    • Cantonese Pinyin: mei⁵ sik⁷
    • Guangdong Romanization: méi⁵ xig¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mei̯¹³ sɪk̚⁵/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bí-sek
    • Tâi-lô: bí-sik
    • Phofsit Daibuun: byseg
    • IPA (Taipei): /bi⁵³⁻⁴⁴ siɪk̚³²/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /bi⁴¹⁻⁴⁴ siɪk̚³²/

Noun

美色

1. good looks (usually of a woman); charms
   1. beautiful woman

Japanese

Kanji in this term
美	色
び Grade: 3	しょく Grade: 2
on'yomi

Etymology

From Middle Chinese compound 美色 (mˠiɪ^X ʃɨk̚, literally “beauty + color”). Compare modern Cantonese reading mei⁵ sik¹.

The kan'on reading, so likely a later borrowing.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) びしょく [bìshókú] (Heiban – [0])
• (Tokyo) びしょく [bíꜜshòkù] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [bʲiɕo̞kɯ̟]

Noun

美(び)色(しょく) • (bishoku) 

1. beautiful color
2. beauty (of personal appearance)

See also

• Appendix:Gikun_Usage_in_Meiji_Version_of_Japanese_Bible/美色