奴婢

Chinese

		slave	slave girl; maid servant
trad. (奴婢)		奴	婢
simp. #(奴婢)		奴	婢

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): núbì

  (Zhuyin): ㄋㄨˊ ㄅㄧˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): nou⁴ pei⁵
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): nù-pî
• Eastern Min (BUC): nù-bê
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): lô͘-pī

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: núbì
    • Zhuyin: ㄋㄨˊ ㄅㄧˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: núbì
    • Wade–Giles: nu²-pi⁴
    • Yale: nú-bì
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: nubih
    • Palladius: нуби (nubi)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /nu³⁵ pi⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: nou⁴ pei⁵
    • Yale: nòuh péih
    • Cantonese Pinyin: nou⁴ pei⁵
    • Guangdong Romanization: nou⁴ péi⁵
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /nou̯²¹ pʰei̯¹³/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: nù-pî
    • Hakka Romanization System: nu^ˇ bi^ˊ
    • Hagfa Pinyim: nu² bi¹
    • Sinological IPA: /nu¹¹ pi²⁴/
• Eastern Min
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: nù-bê
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /nˡu⁵³⁻²¹ ^(p-)βɛi²⁴²/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Tainan)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: lô͘-pī
    • Tâi-lô: lôo-pī
    • Phofsit Daibuun: lo'pi
    • Sinological IPA (Tainan): /lɔ²⁴⁻³³ pi³³/

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• Middle Chinese: nu bjieX

Rime
Character	奴	婢
Reading #	1/1	1/1
Initial (聲)	泥 (8)	並 (3)
Final (韻)	模 (23)	支 (11)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Rising (X)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	I	III
Fanqie	乃都切	便婢切
Baxter	nu	bjieX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/nuo/	/biᴇX/
Pan Wuyun	/nuo/	/biɛX/
Shao Rongfen	/no/	/bjɛX/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/nɔ/	/biə̆X/
Li Rong	/no/	/bieX/
Wang Li	/nu/	/bǐeX/
Bernhard Karlgren	/nuo/	/bʱie̯X/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	nú	bì
Expected Cantonese Reflex	nou4	bei6

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*nˤa  [b]eʔ/

  (Zhengzhang): /*naː  peʔ|beʔ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	奴	婢
Reading #	1/1	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	nú	bì
Middle Chinese	‹ nu ›	‹ bjieX ›
Old Chinese	/*nˁa/	/*[b]eʔ/
English	slave	female slave or servant
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	奴	婢	婢
Reading #	1/1	1/2	2/2
No.	9600	378	394
Phonetic component	女	卑	卑
Rime group	魚	支	支
Rime subdivision	0	0	0
Corresponding MC rime	奴	𢔌	婢
Old Chinese	/*naː/	/*peʔ/	/*beʔ/

Noun

奴婢

1. (literary, archaic) servants and maid-servants (as a combined category)
2. (literary, archaic) I; your humble servant (term of self-address used by servants, maid-servants and eunuchs when addressing the emperor, ministers, concubines, etc.)

Usage notes

The sense servants and maid-servants is an example of a 合稱／合称 (héchēng) in Chinese; the sense term of self-address is an example of a 自稱／自称 (zìchēng).

See also

• 奴僕／奴仆 (núpú)

Japanese

Kanji in this term
奴	婢
ぬ Grade: S	ひ Hyōgai
goon	kan'on

Etymology

Superficially 奴(ぬ) (nu, “servant; slave”) + 婢(ひ) (hi, “maid, female slave”). Compare Mandarin 奴婢 (núbì, “núbì”), Hakka 奴婢 (“nùpî”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [nɯ̟çi]

Noun

奴(ぬ)婢(ひ) • (nuhi) 

1. (historical) a slave, a person of the lowest two ranks of the five 賤民(せんみん) (senmin, “low caste, outcast”) ranks of the 律令制 (“Ritsuryō system”), who might be bought and sold, and was not permitted a family.
2. household slaves

Derived terms

• 官奴婢(かんぬひ) (kannuhi)
• 公奴婢(くぬひ) (kunuhi)
• 私奴婢(しぬひ) (shinuhi)

References

• “^△奴^▲婢”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[1] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2026

Korean

Hanja in this term
奴	婢

Noun

奴婢 • (nobi) (hangeul 노비)

1. hanja form^? of 노비 (“slave; servant”)

Vietnamese

chữ Hán Nôm in this term
奴	婢

Noun

奴婢

1. chữ Hán form of nô tì (“slave; servant”)

Pronoun

奴婢

1. chữ Hán form of nô tì (“I/me”)