蜜

蜜 (Kangxi radical 142, 虫+8, 14 strokes, cangjie input 十心竹戈 (JPHI), four-corner 3013₆, composition ⿱宓虫)

• 𠏷, 𪢗, 𭢼, 𬉗, 櫁, 𭺋, 𦢉, 𮉒, 𬠵, 藌, 𨷛

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1085, character 36
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 33143
• Dae Jaweon: page 1553, character 6
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2866, character 7
• Unihan data for U+871C

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *mliɡ) : phonetic 宓 (OC *mriɡ, *mliɡ) + semantic 虫 (“insect”).

Possibly from Tocharian B mit, from Proto-Indo-European *médʰu (“honey”). Cognate with Tocharian B mit (“honey”), English mead, Dutch mede (“mead”) German Met (“mead”), Swedish mjöd (“mead”), Sanskrit मधु (madhu, “honey”), Ancient Greek μέθυ (méthu, “wine”), Old Church Slavonic медъ (medŭ, “honey”), Russian мёд (mjod, “honey”), Polish miód (“honey”).^[1]

Sense “mistress, young girl” is additionally a phono-semantic matching of English miss.

蜜

1. honey

   蜂蜜  ―  fēngmì  ―  honey

   蜜蜂  ―  mìfēng  ―  honeybee

   • 1919, 《新舊約全書：官話和合譯本》 [Mandarin Bible, Union Version], Shanghai: American Bible Society, 申命記 [Deuteronomy] 6:3:

     以色列阿、你要聽、要謹守遵行、使你可以在那流奶與蜜之地、得以享福、人數極其增多、正如耶和華你列祖的上帝所應許你的。 [MSC, trad.]
     以色列阿、你要听、要谨守遵行、使你可以在那流奶与蜜之地、得以享福、人数极其增多、正如耶和华你列祖的上帝所应许你的。 [MSC, simp.]

     Yǐsèliè a, nǐ yào tīng, yào jǐnshǒu zūnxíng, shǐ nǐ kěyǐ zài nà liú nǎi yǔ mì zhī dì, déyǐ xiǎngfú, rénshù jíqí zēngduō, zhèngrú Yēhéhuá nǐ lièzǔ de Shàngdì suǒ yīngxǔ nǐ de. [Pinyin]

     Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.

   • 2021, “Good Time”, 林寶 (lyrics), SOHO, Jimmy Brown, and 吳鏑 (music)‎^[1]performed by 張天賦 [MC Cheung Tinfu]:

     逃生艙　內裡學種花　蜜會遇上蜂 [Literary Cantonese, trad.]
     逃生舱　内里学种花　蜜会遇上蜂 [Literary Cantonese, simp.]

     tou⁴ sang¹ cong¹, noi⁶ leoi⁵ hok⁶ zung³ faa¹, mat⁶ wui⁵ jyu⁶ soeng⁵ fung¹ [Jyutping]

     In the survival capsule, [you] learn to plant flowers, the honey will meet the bee

2. resembling honey

   糖蜜  ―  tángmì  ―  molasses

   蜜色  ―  mìsè  ―  colour of honey

3. beeswax

   蜜燭／蜜烛  ―  mìzhú  ―  candle

4. (dialectal Cantonese) bee; honeybee
5. sweet; honeyed

   甜蜜  ―  tiánmì  ―  sweet, happy

   水蜜桃  ―  shuǐmìtáo  ―  honey peach

   甜言蜜語／甜言蜜语  ―  tiányánmìyǔ  ―  sweet words and honeyed phrases; cajolery

6. mistress; young girl

   小蜜  ―  xiǎomì  ―  mistress

   閨蜜／闺蜜  ―  guīmì  ―  female friend (of female)

7. (Hokkien) to marinate in honey or sugar

(Jōyō kanji)

• Go-on: みつ (mitsu, Jōyō)、みち (michi)
• Kan-on: びつ (bitsu)

• 波(は)羅(ら)蜜(みつ) (haramitsu), 波(は)羅(ら)蜜(みっ)多(た) (haramitta, “perfection, completeness”, in Buddhism)

/mitɨ/ → /mitʉ/ → /mit͡su/ From Middle Chinese 蜜 (MC mjit).

• (Tokyo) みつ [míꜜtsù] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [mʲit͡sɨ]

蜜(みつ) • (mitsu) 

1. honey
2. nectar
3. molasses, treacle, syrup

   Synonym: 糖蜜 (tōmitsu)

4. Short for 蜜砂糖 (mitsuzatō): brown sugar

蜜(みつ) • (mitsu) 

1. honey, nectar
2. sweet
3. Used in Sanskrit transliterations

/mitɨ/ → /mit͡ɕi/

Alternative reading of mitsu above.

• (Tokyo) みち [míꜜchì] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [mʲit͡ɕi]

蜜(みち) • (michi) 

1. (rare) Same as みつ (mitsu) above

Only used on its own. Not used in compounds.

From Middle Chinese 蜜 (MC mjit). See the hangul entry at 밀 (mil, “beeswax”) for the etymology concerning the “beeswax” sense.