The kanji 妹 represents "younger sister". It specifically refers to a female sibling who is younger than oneself. The core meaning revolves around the concept of familial relationships, age, and gender, emphasizing the position of a younger female relative within a family structure.

・On-yomi (音読み): マイ (mai) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): いもうと (imouto)

⚫︎ 妹 (いもうと) Translation: Younger sister ⚫︎ 妹さん (いもうとさん) Translation: Younger sister (polite) ⚫︎ 姉と妹 (あねといもうと) Translation: Older sister and younger sister

The kanji 妹 is a 形声文字 (keisei moji), a phono-semantic compound. It combines two components: 女 (onna), meaning "woman" or "female," which acts as the semantic component indicating the meaning, and 未 (mi), which acts as the phonetic component, providing the sound. The combination of 女 and 未 originally represented a young, unmarried woman, hence the meaning "younger sister."