嬰
sharp (music), baby
Readings
On'yomi
- エイ
Kun'yomi
- ふ.れる
- みどりご
- あかご
Meaning
嬰 centers on a baby or infant, with a secondary specialized meaning of a sharp note in music. The two senses are unrelated in modern Japanese; the baby meaning is the primary everyday sense, while the musical sharp is a technical term.
Most common words using 嬰
- 嬰えい
sharp
- 嬰児えいじ
infant; baby
- 嬰児みどりご
infant; baby
- 嬰ト短調えいトたんちょう
G sharp minor
- 嬰ニ短調えいニたんちょう
D sharp minor
- 嬰ハ短調えいハたんちょう
C sharp minor
- 嬰ヘ短調えいヘたんちょう
F sharp minor
- 嬰ヘ長調えいヘちょうちょう
F sharp major
- 嬰児殺しえいじごろし
infanticide
- 嬰記号えいきごう
sharp (sign)
- 嬰音えいおん
sharp (musical note)
- 退嬰たいえい
conservativeness; conservatism; regression; retrogression; unadventurousness
- 退嬰主義たいえいしゅぎ
backward-looking philosophy (ideology); conservatism
- 退嬰政策たいえいせいさく
conservative (regressive) policy
- 退嬰的たいえいてき
conservative; regressive; backward-looking; unenterprising
- 重嬰記号じゅうえいきごう
double sharp (symbol)
Study
Etymology
嬰 combines 賏 (a doubled shell/eye component) with 女 (woman). The exact historical development is uncertain, but it likely originally depicted a woman with a baby or necklace, later extended to the musical sharp sense through phonetic borrowing.
Meaning mnemonic
The top 賏 looks like two eyes watching over a baby, and the bottom 女 is a woman. Picture a woman carefully holding a baby in her arms.
Reading mnemonic
For エイ, imagine a baby saying 'A' (エイ) as its first sound, like the letter A. The baby's cry sounds like エイ.