賣

See also: 𧶠, 卖, and 売

賣 U+8CE3, 賣 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-8CE3 ← 賢 [U+8CE2] CJK Unified Ideographs 賤 → [U+8CE4]

Translingual

Traditional	賣
Shinjitai	売
Simplified	卖

Han character

賣 (Kangxi radical 154, 貝+8, 15 strokes, cangjie input 土田中金 (GWLC), four-corner 4080₆, composition ⿱士買)

Derived characters

• 儥 凟 嬻 瀆 䢱 櫝 殰 牘 犢 瓄 䄣 襩 續 讀 豄 贖 贕 鑟 韇 韥 黷 皾 𧸝 覿 藚 竇 匵

Descendants

• 売 卖

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1209, character 33
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 36825
• Dae Jaweon: page 1675, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 6, page 3645, character 7
• Unihan data for U+8CE3

Chinese

trad.		賣
simp.		卖
alternative forms		𧷓 𧷵 ‡ 𧷨 ‡

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 賣
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Characters in the same phonetic series (買) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
買	*mreːʔ
蕒	*mreːʔ
嘪	*mreːʔ
鷶	*mreːʔ
賣	*mreːs

Originally 𧷓, an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *mreːs) : semantic 出 (“go out”) + phonetic 買 (OC *mreːʔ, “buy”).

出, which indicates exoactive semantics (Sagart, 1999), was eventually reduced to the etymologically unrelated 士.

Etymology

Exoactive of 買 (OC *mreːʔ, “to buy”) (Sagart, 1995; Schuessler, 2007; Baxter and Sagart, 2014), from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *g/m/s-laj ~ *r/s-lej ~ *b-rej (“to buy; to barter”); see there for more.

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 賣

1. to sell

   賣完／卖完  ―  màiwán  ―  to sell out

   這本書不賣。／这本书不卖。  ―  Zhè běn shū bù mài.  ―  This book is not for sale.

   他們在集市賣蔬菜和雞蛋。 [MSC, trad.]
   他们在集市卖蔬菜和鸡蛋。 [MSC, simp.]

   Tāmen zài jíshì mài shūcài hé jīdàn. [Pinyin]

   They sell vegetables and eggs in the marketplace.

   越賣越貴／越卖越贵 [Cantonese]  ―  jyut⁶ maai⁶ jyut⁶ gwai³ [Jyutping]  ―  the more it sells, the more expensive it grows

2. to betray; to sell out

   出賣／出卖  ―  chūmài  ―  to betray

   賣國／卖国  ―  màiguó  ―  to betray one's country

   賣友求榮／卖友求荣  ―  màiyǒuqiúróng  ―  to betray someone to obtain promotion

   這個王八蛋居然把我給賣了！ [MSC, trad.]
   这个王八蛋居然把我给卖了！ [MSC, simp.]

   Zhège wángbadàn jūrán bǎ wǒ gěi mài le! [Pinyin]

   The bastard unexpectedly sold me out!

   • 周以萇弘為賣周也，乃誅萇弘而殺之。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     周以苌弘为卖周也，乃诛苌弘而杀之。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Han Feizi, circa 2^nd century BCE

     Zhōu yǐ Cháng Hóng wèi mài Zhōu yě, nǎi zhū Cháng Hóng ér shā zhī. [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   • 杵臼謬曰：「小人哉程嬰！昔下宮之難不能死，與我謀匿趙氏孤兒，今又賣我。縱不能立，而忍賣之乎！」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     杵臼谬曰：「小人哉程婴！昔下宫之难不能死，与我谋匿赵氏孤儿，今又卖我。纵不能立，而忍卖之乎！」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE

     Chǔjiù miù yuē: “Xiǎorén zāi Chéng Yīng! Xī Xiàgōng zhī nàn bùnéng sǐ, yǔ wǒ móu nì Zhào Shì gū'ér, jīn yòu mài wǒ. Zòng bùnéng lì, ér rěn mài zhī hū!” [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   • 這三個沒有骨頭的東西！他們把礦上的工人賣了。哼，你們這些不要臉的董事長，你們的錢這次又靈了。 [MSC, trad.]
     这三个没有骨头的东西！他们把矿上的工人卖了。哼，你们这些不要脸的董事长，你们的钱这次又灵了。 [MSC, simp.]

     From: 1933, Cao Yu, 《雷雨》 [Thunderstorm]

     Zhè sān ge méiyǒu gǔtou de dōngxi! Tāmen bǎ kuàng shàng de gōngrén mài le. Hēng, nǐmen zhèxiē bùyàoliǎn de dǒngshìcháng, nǐmen de qián zhècì yòu líng le. [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

3. to spare no effort; to do one's best
4. to show off

   賣弄／卖弄  ―  màinòng  ―  to show off

   賣功／卖功  ―  màigōng  ―  to show off one's merit

5. (Cantonese, of the media) to publish (a piece of news)

   琴日報紙冇賣呢單新聞嘅？ [Cantonese, trad.]
   琴日报纸冇卖呢单新闻嘅？ [Cantonese, simp.]

   kam⁴ jat⁶ bou³ zi² mou⁵ maai⁶ nei¹ daan¹ san¹ man^4-2 ge²? [Jyutping]

   Why didn't newspaper publish this piece of news yesterday?

Synonyms

• (to sell):

edit

• 出售 (chūshòu)
• 出賣／出卖 (chūmài)
• 售 (shòu)
• 售出 (shòuchū)
• 售賣／售卖 (shòumài)
• 經銷／经销 (jīngxiāo) (to sell on consignment)
• 賣出／卖出 (màichū)
• 銷／销 (xiāo)
• 銷售／销售 (xiāoshòu)
• 鬻 (Classical Chinese)

 

Antonyms

• 買／买 (mǎi)

Descendants

• → Proto-Hmong-Mien: *mɛjH (“to sell”)

References

• “賣”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[1], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A03968
• “Entry #11424”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2024.

Japanese

Shinjitai	売
Kyūjitai	賣

Kanji

賣

(Jinmeiyō kanji, kyūjitai kanji, shinjitai form 売)

1. to sell

Readings

• Go-on: め (me)
• Kan-on: ばい (bai)
• Tō-on: まい (mai)
• Kun: うる (uru, 賣る)、うれる (ureru, 賣れる)

Korean

Hanja

Wikisource

賣 (eumhun 팔 매 (pal mae))

1. hanja form^? of 매 (“to sell”)

Compounds

Compounds

• 매매 (賣買, maemae)
• 매도 (賣渡, maedo)
• 경매 (競賣, gyeongmae)
• 매국 (賣國, maeguk)
• 매국노 (賣國奴, maegungno)

References

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [2]

Vietnamese

Han character

賣: Hán Việt readings: mại
賣: Nôm readings: mải, mợi

1. chữ Hán form of mại (“to sell”).