DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

鹹水妹

简咸水妹 · 繁鹹水妹

Mandarin · pinyin xián shuǐ mèi

(dialect) prostitute from Guangdong (esp. one in Shanghai before the Revolution) (loanword from "handsome maid")

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

鹹: Look up this written character
水: shuǐ · water, liquid, lotion, juice
妹: mèi · younger sister
咸: xián · together; all, completely; united; hexagram ䷞

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

2–3–4 · xian2 shui3 mei4

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

3character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

鹹水妹 · find source passages ↗ · 咸水妹 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

noun

(historical, derogatory) prostitute serving foreigners (arriving from the sea), especially one in colonial Shanghai and Hong Kong

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack