Ex-Girlfriend's Tattoo Meaning
From reader "Bart R":
"Hi, I saw your website, with translations of Japanese/Chinese tattoos. Amazing what people allow tattoo artists to write on their bodies :-) Now I got a little curious, what the tattoo of my ex-girlfriend means. The artist said that this is the translation of her name ("Maaike", in English pronounced as "My-ke"). Can you tell me if the artist was right, or she has major gibberish on her body? If so, feel free to post on your website ;-) thanks in advance!"
The character 麦 itself means "wheat", "barley", or "oats" in both Chinese and Japanese. Some occasions, it represents a Chinese surname. Phonetically, it is pronounced as "M-ai" in Chinese.
Here is a link gives more information and the Traditional version is written this way.
Therefore to answer your question, it is technically not gibberish. But it would be recognized by Chinese or Japanese as "wheat" if there is no further explanation.
After I replied to "Bart R", he emailed me back with:
"Dear Tian, Thank you very much! I called her, and now she's finally sure of the meaning of the sign. "Thanks" from her too! She's glad she doesn't have "Crazy diarrhea" on her chest :-) Thanks again."
posted by tian at
1:13 AM
5 Comments:
Looks like the tatoo artist was right. In Korean it's pronounced something like "Mayk." If you look at the Phonetic data at unihan, you'll see this pronunciation. It could also be the Cantonese pronunciation.
What's your ex-girlfriend's first name? May? Other than phonetics, I have no idea why the tatoo artist would choose this character.
Also, the name of McDonald's in China is 麦东劳 or Mai Dong Lao and so to many Chinese people 麦 stands for McDonalds.
Cheers,
-Reid
www.yanex.net
p.s. Excellent site
First thing that comes up to my mind is "小麦色の肌" which means a beautifully-sun-tanned skin color. I don't think
I'm the only Japanese speaking person who'd think that way.
Nobody would assume it's a name, but it's kinda pretty
and funny.
麥 (this is the traditional version of the character) is used as the first syllable in names beginning with "Mc" or "Mac", probably influenced by the Cantonese pronunciation. For example, Douglas MacArthur is known as "麥帥" (there's a highway named after him in Taipei), meaning "General Mac".
In Mandarin it's pronounced "mai", in Cantonese it's "mak". It means "wheat".
my boyfriend has a chinese symbol on his arm and he wont tell me what it means. im not to sure how to attach the photo so could someone please write to me at beautyneverdies@hotmail.com spo i can send it to you to find out.
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