Mei

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A given name used primarily for females in various East Asian cultures ; a term that may refer to beautiful or attractive qualities in certain languages ; occasionally, a reference to characters in media, especially from Japanese or Chinese origins
2. A personal name for girls in East Asia ; a word connoting beauty or elegance in specific linguistic contexts ; the designation of fictional figures in animated works or literature
3. Used as a feminine name in Chinese and Japanese contexts ; signifying beauty or charm in certain languages ; the moniker of notable personalities or characters in popular culture

Etymology: Mei is a given name whose English use is almost entirely a borrowing from Chinese, where it is a common name for women. It is not an English word with a history of its own, and the same syllable carries different characters and meanings in different Chinese names, so the name cannot be traced to one single sense. In Chinese it is typically written with characters that also form common surnames, which is why the syllable turns up in so many family names. The name's presence in English rests on the Chinese syllable being transliterated into Latin letters, and "Mei" is one of the spellings of that romanization. Because the spelling tracks pronunciation rather than any English root, the name's English meaning is simply whatever the chosen Chinese characters mean in each individual case.