Character: 命
Modern (Beijing) reading: mìng
Preclassic Old Chinese: mriŋs
Classic Old Chinese: mriŋh
Western Han Chinese: mriŋh
Eastern Han Chinese: mriŋh
Early Postclassic Chinese: mìŋ
Middle Postclassic Chinese: mìŋ
Late Postclassic Chinese: mìŋ
Middle Chinese: mä̀iŋ
English meaning : to order, command, appoint; order, degree, charge, mandate
Russian meaning[s]: 1) приказ; указ, декрет; распоряжение, приказание; приказывать, предписывать; командовать; заставлять; 2) судьба, участь; удел; рок; судьбы страны; 3) жизнь; 4) называть; обозначать
Comments: Also used metaphorically: '(heavenly) order' > 'fate, lot, life'. Viet. mạng is colloquial; standard Sino-Viet. is mệnh. Min forms reflect *m-: Xiamen mia6, biŋ6, Chaozhou mia6, Fuzhou, Jianou miaŋ6. The word regularly rhymes in *-in(h) in Shijing, hence the reconstruction *mriŋ-s for Early Zhou.
Radical: 30
Four-angle index: 2085
Karlgren code: 0762 a-b
Vietnamese reading: mạng
Shijing occurrences: 21.1, 21.2, 50.3, 51.3_
