無名指

From Mencius:

今有無名之指，屈而不信，非疾痛害事也，如有能信之者，則不遠秦楚之路，為指之不若人也。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, trad.]

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今有无名之指，屈而不信，非疾痛害事也，如有能信之者，则不远秦楚之路，为指之不若人也。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, simp.]

From: Mencius, c. 4^th century BCE

Jīn yǒu wúmíng zhī zhǐ, qū ér bù shēn, fēi jítòng hàishì yě, rú yǒu néng shēn zhī zhě, zé bù yuǎn Qín Chǔ zhī lù, wèi zhǐ zhī bù ruò rén yě. [Pinyin]

Here is a man whose fourth finger is bent and cannot be stretched out straight. It is not painful, nor does it incommode his business, and yet if there be any one who can make it straight, he will not think the way from Qin to Chu far to go to him; because his finger is not like the finger of other people.

無名指

1. ring finger

Borrowed from Middle Chinese 無名指 (mɨo miᴇŋ t͡ɕˠiɪX, literally “no, without + name + finger”). Compare modern Cantonese reading mou⁴ ming⁴ zi², Hakka mò-miàng-chí.

• (Tokyo) むめーし [mùméꜜèshì] (Nakadaka – [2])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [mɯ̟me̞ːɕi]

無(む)名(めい)指(し) • (mumeishi) 

1. synonym of 薬指: ring finger

Calque of Middle Chinese 無名指 (“unnamed finger”), swapping the readings of the first two kanji to match Japanese word order.

This reading is more commonly spelled 名無し指.

• 名無し指 (more common)

• (Tokyo) ななしゆび [nànáshíꜜyùbì] (Nakadaka – [3])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [na̠na̠ɕijɯ̟bʲi]

無名指(ななしゆび) • (nanashiyubi) 

1. synonym of 薬指 (kusuriyubi): ring finger