Meaning of 麽 ?

[KingEliaerts]

Hi,

While studying Chinese characters by internet I stumbled across the character " 麽 ". It's supposed to be one of the most used characters, but it's meaning is lost to me (the website cites "dimi." as definition, and quick google searches and looking it up on Chinestools.com didn't help either. Also no dictionary nearby.

It'd be great if someone could explain.

The character can be found on http://www.learnchineseez.com/read-write/simplified/view.php?code=9ebd&last=1 .

Cheers,

Jef

[fanglu]

It doesn't mean anything by itself. It goes with other characters to make words, for example 什麼.

Also, although that website says 麼 is a simplified character, as far as I know, 么 is always used in simplified.

[tooironic]

麽 is a variant of 麼 (as in 什麽/什麼). The latter (麼 and 什麼) is much more common. In simplified Chinese, 么 is used instead. In Standard Chinese, 麽 is rarely used, except in the word 幺麽 yāomó (petty, insignificant).

[skylee]

Is it rare? I think I use it quite often in 甚麽 / 怎麽 / 這麽 / 那麽, and less often in 多麽.

[Glenn]

According to TW MOE's dictionary, it has four meanings and readings:

1. mo2, meaning "fine" (細小)

2. ma5, same as 嗎

3. ma2, with a questioning mood, as in 幹麼

4. me5, the one in 甚麼, 那麼, 這麼, etc., which has a sense of moderate measuring, as far as I can make out (表有所斟酌語氣).

2 and 3 seem to be taken over by 嘛 these days, though they may be a bit different. I'm not sure about that.

[tooironic]

I was under the impression that 甚麽 is not Standard Chinese. It should be 什麼 or 什么.

[skylee]

I suppose again it depends on which "standard" you are talking about. When I was at primary school (admittedly a long time ago), I was taught 甚麽. Take a look at this webpage of the HK Govt Education Bureau -> http://www.edbchines...stroke&jpC=lshk

Also, the Taiwan MOE Dictionary says -

甚麼

1. 疑問代名詞，專指事物。明˙高明˙琵琶記˙蔡宅祝壽：「孩兒，請爹媽出來做甚麼？」 亦作「什麼」。

2. 指示代名詞，泛指一般事物。如：「想甚麼，說甚麼；說甚麼，寫甚麼。」亦作「什麼」。

3. 疑問形容詞。如：「你甚麼時候回來的？」、「甚麼人來了？」亦作「什麼」。

4. 表不定或虛指的形容詞。水滸傳˙第四回：「卻纔只道老漢引甚麼郎君子弟在樓上吃酒，因此引莊客來廝打。」老殘遊記˙第二回：「因為人太多，所以說的甚麼話都聽不清楚，也不去管他。」亦作「什麼」。

什麼

1. 疑問代名詞，專指事物。如：「你在做什麼？」亦作 「甚麼」。

2. 指示代名詞，泛指一般事物。如：「心裡想什麼，就說什麼，別這樣吞吞吐吐的。」亦作「甚麼」。

3. 疑問形容詞。如：「你住在什麼地方？」文明小史˙第三十四回：「這是部什麼書，我還不曉得名目，請悔兄指教。」亦作「甚麼」。

4. 表不定或虛指的形容詞。紅樓夢˙第四十八回：「為這點小事，弄得人坑家敗業，也不算什麼能為。」文明小史˙第三十四回：「這部書沒有什麼道理。」亦作「甚麼」。

[KingEliaerts]

Hi guys,

Thanks for all the replies! I'm not following the emerging discussion 100% but I'm working on making the territory of your discussion totally mine! You're inspiring

Also, you made it clear to me what the character means, I've learned stuff like shén ​me.

This forum is totally awesome.

Cheers

[lingo-ling]

Like 嗎, 麼 may be etymologically derived from 無.

[Glenn]

Really? How so?

[lingo-ling]

Two things make me suspect this may be the case:

1) 麼 appears in question words, and question particles in many languages are etymologically derived from negatives.

2) It starts with m-.

Just a guess, though. I'll need to check an etymological dictionary.