Mi (surname)


Mi is the atonal Wade–Giles and pinyin romanization of various Chinese surnames. Transcribing the character, it was the name of the royal house of the ancient Chinese states|state] of Chu. It is also the transcription of the surnames,, and, along with a few other less common names.

Mǐ (芈)

The surname Mǐ was originally an onomatopoeia for caprine bleating with the reconstructed Old Chinese pronunciation *meʔ. As the family name of the royal house of Chu, it was apparently used to transcribe a Kam–Tai word in the Chu dialect meaning "bear". This was then calqued into Old Chinese as , used as the clan name of the ruling branch of the family. The Mi also ruled Kui and some Chu successor states after the fall of Qin.
As recorded by Sima Qian, the family themselves claimed descent from Zhuanxu, a son of the Yellow Emperor in Chinese legend; his grandson Jilian; and Yuxiong, a tutor of King Wen of Zhou in the 11th century BC. After the victory of the King Wu over the Shang at Muye Yuxiong's descendants supposedly remained prominent at the Zhou court and the Cheng [King of Zhou|Cheng King] then created Xiong Yi, Yuxiong's great-grandson, the viscount of the fief of Chu.
Chinese historians and genealogists also say that various other families began as cadet branches of the Mi, apart from the royal Xiong. The Dou and Cheng were known together as the Ruo'ao clan. The descendants of particular Chu kings became known by the separate surnames Jing, Zhao, and Qu, known collectively as the Sanlü. Other lesser branches included the Ye, originally known as the Shenyin ; the Xiang ; the Lan ; the Zha ; and some members of the Pan descended from Pan Chong.
Notable people with this surname:
The surname Mǐ is the Chinese word for "rice", particularly milled and polished rice ready for cooking. It is listed 59th in the Hundred Family Surnames and considered one of the "Nine Sogdian Surnames".
Notable people with this surname:
The surname Mí is a variant pronunciation of nǐ, originally the term for the spirit of one's own dead father and then a synonym for spirit tablets and ancestral shrines, all aspects of ancestral veneration connected to traditional conceptions of filial piety.
The surname Mí is a word for mush used in some dialects to refer to congee and similar forms of cooked rice.
Notable people with this surname: