Character: 綿
Modern (Beijing) reading: mián
Preclassic Old Chinese: men
Classic Old Chinese: men
Western Han Chinese: mjan
Eastern Han Chinese: mjan
Early Postclassic Chinese: mjen
Middle Postclassic Chinese: mjen
Late Postclassic Chinese: mjen
Middle Chinese: mjen
English meaning : be long, drawn-out
Russian meaning[s]: 1) хлопок; вата; ватный, см. 棉; 2) длинный; тянуться; беспрерывный; непрестанно; 2) мягкий, слабый; тонкий; гибкий; нежный
Comments: Also used for a homonymous *men 'fine, soft, delicate' (in E.Zhou texts only in 綿蠻 *men-mrān 'be delicate', but later used also independently). A later meaning is 'long threads' > 'cotton' (since Tang often written as 棉). Viet. mền 'blanket' is a colloquial loanword (cf. Chin. 棉被 'blanket'); standard Sino-Viet. is miên. For the meaning 'soft, delicate' cf. also Viet. mịn 'fine, soft' (although both the final and the tone are rather unusual for a loanword). For *m- cf. Min forms: Xiamen mi2, Fuzhou mieŋ2, Jianou miŋ2.
Radical: 120
Four-angle index: 3883
Karlgren code: 0225 a-b
Vietnamese reading: mền
Jianchuan Bai: mi4-
Dali Bai: -mi2
