Wei

See also: wei, wéi, Wéi, and Wèi

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: wā, IPA^(key): /weɪ/
• Rhymes: -eɪ
• Homophones: way, weigh, wey; whey (wine–whine merger)

Etymology 1

From Mandarin Chinese 魏 (Wèi).

Alternative forms

• Ngwei

Proper noun

Wei

1. (historical) An ancient Chinese march during the Zhou dynasty
   • 1991, Gao Yuan, “Stratagem 2: Besiege the kingdom of Wei to save the kingdom of Zhao”, in Lure the Tiger out of the Mountains: The Thirty-six Stratagems of Ancient China‎^[1], Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 27:

     TO ASSAULT a strong and cohesive enemy head-on is to invite disaster. The stratagem of besieging the kingdom of Wei to save the kingdom of Zhao advocates indirect confrontation.

2. (historical) Liang, the realm of the earlier march after its elevation to a kingdom
3. (historical) A kingdom during the Three Kingdoms interregnum following China's Han dynasty.
   • 1979, Kuo-ch'ing Tu, edited by William Schultz, Li Ho‎^[2], Twayne Publishers, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 59:

     After the Empire of Han was taken over by Wei (220) in the fifth year of the Ch’ing-lung period (237), the statue was moved from Ch’ang-an, the capital of Han, to Hsü-ch’ang, the capital of Wei, in modern Honan province.

Synonyms

• Liang

Etymology 2

From Mandarin Chinese 衞／卫 (Wèi).

Alternative forms

• Wey

Proper noun

Wei

1. (historical) An ancient Chinese duchy during the Zhou dynasty

Etymology 3

Proper noun

Wei

1. A river in China, a tributary of the Yellow River.

   Synonym: Wei River

Further reading

• Saul B. Cohen, editor (1998), “Wei”, in The Columbia Gazetteer of the World‎^[3], volume 3, New York: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 3430, column 1
• Wei at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.

Anagrams

• Wie

East Central German

Etymology

Compare German Wein.

Noun

Wei m

1. (Erzgebirgisch) wine

Related terms

• Branntewei

Further reading

• Alte und neue Gedichte und Geschichten in erzgebirgischer Mundart, 12. Heft., P. 26
• Manfred Blechschmidt, Behüt eich fei dos Licht Ein Weihnachtsbuch des Erzgebirges P. 165
• Pfarrer Wild'sche und einige andre Gedichte, P. 11

German Low German

Etymology

From Middle Low German wei, from Old Saxon *hwei, from Proto-West Germanic *hwaij (“whey”).

Noun

Wei f (no plural)

1. whey

Derived terms

• Keeswei

Luxembourgish

Etymology

From Old High German wīhī. Cognate with German Weihe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɑɪ̯/
• Rhymes: -ɑɪ

Noun

Wei f (plural Weien)

1. (Christianity) consecration
2. (Christianity) ordination

Related terms

• weien

Pennsylvania German

Etymology

Compare German Wein, Dutch wijn, English wine.

Noun

Wei m

1. wine

Sathmar Swabian

Noun

Wei m

1. wine

References

• Claus Stephani, Volksgut der Sathmarschwaben (1985)