Chinese surname · rank 237
米
米 is read as mǐ.
mǐ
Simplified and traditional 米
hulled or husked uncooked rice
Wood
Time: Han-Tang Western Region Mi state layer, Northern Song Mi Fu phonetic-change layer, and Song-Ming regional distribution layers; Tang-layer tradition, 618-907 CE
Place: Zhaowu origin sphere in today's Gansu, Central Asian Mi state around Samarkand/Panjakent region, and later Shaanxi, Hebei, Hubei, Shanxi, and Yunnan clusters
Origin note
米 has two major source-backed layers. One is from the Western Region Mi state, also called Mimohe or Maymurgh in transmitted sources and treated as one of the Zhaowu Nine Surnames. Its people originally came from the Zhaowu sphere, moved into Central Asia after Xiongnu pressure, and some who entered China used the state name Mi as a surname. A second layer is a phonetic surname change from 芈: the Northern Song painter and calligrapher Mi Fu said his line descended from Chu royal stock and changed 芈 to the same-sounding 米. These two accounts are historically different, so the page presents 米 as both a state-name surname and a phonetic-change surname.
Historical figures
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