二毛

Chinese

		two	hair
simp. and trad. (二毛)		二	毛
Literally: “with hair of two colours; salt and pepper”.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): èrmáo

  (Zhuyin): ㄦˋ ㄇㄠˊ

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: èrmáo
    • Zhuyin: ㄦˋ ㄇㄠˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: èrmáo
    • Wade–Giles: êrh⁴-mao²
    • Yale: èr-máu
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: ellmau
    • Palladius: эрмао (ermao)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ˀɤɻ⁵¹ mɑʊ̯³⁵/

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• Middle Chinese: nyijH maw

Rime
Character	二	毛
Reading #	1/1	1/2
Initial (聲)	日 (38)	明 (4)
Final (韻)	脂 (15)	豪 (89)
Tone (調)	Departing (H)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	III	I
Fanqie	而至切	莫袍切
Baxter	nyijH	maw
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ȵiɪH/	/mɑu/
Pan Wuyun	/ȵiH/	/mɑu/
Shao Rongfen	/ȵʑjɪH/	/mɑu/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ȵiH/	/maw/
Li Rong	/ȵiH/	/mɑu/
Wang Li	/ȵʑiH/	/mɑu/
Bernard Karlgren	/ȵʑiH/	/mɑu/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	èr	máo
Expected Cantonese Reflex	ji6	mou4

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*ni[j]-s  C.mˤaw/

  (Zhengzhang): /*njis  maːw|maːws/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	二	毛
Reading #	1/1	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	èr	máo
Middle Chinese	‹ nyijH ›	‹ maw ›
Old Chinese	/*ni[j]-s/	/*C.mˁaw/
English	two	hair
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	二	毛	毛
Reading #	1/1	1/2	2/2
No.	2824	8780	8791
Phonetic component	二	毛	毛
Rime group	脂	宵	宵
Rime subdivision	2	1	1
Corresponding MC rime	二	毛	冃
Old Chinese	/*njis/	/*maːw/	/*maːws/

Adjective

二毛

1. (metonymically, of a person, literary) middle-aged; approaching old age

   • 公曰：「君子不重傷，不禽二毛。」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     公曰：「君子不重伤，不禽二毛。」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Commentary of Zuo, c. 4^th century BCE

     Gōng yuē: “Jūnzǐ bù chóngshāng, bù qín èrmáo.” [Pinyin]

     The Duke said: "A man of superior morality does not wound his enemy twice. He chooses not to capture an opponent who is approaching his old age."