ゆい : yui | define meaning

Cognate with Kikai (Araki) and Amami (Yamatohama) yuri; Kikai (Shitooke, Nakazato) yui "sieve"; Tokunoshima (Asama) ゆい yui "coarse sieve"; Kunigami (Nakijin) ゆい yui; Okinawan (Kumejima, Naha, Shuri, Yomitan) ゆい yui "sieve"; and standard Japanese ゆれ【揺れ】 yure "shaking".

Related to Kikai (Kamikatetsu) ゆすり yusuri "sieve" (compare Japanese ゆすり【揺すり】 yusuri "shaking") as well as Yaeyama ゆらし yurashi and Yonaguni どぅらち durachi "sieve" (compare Japanese ゆらし【揺らし】 yurashi "shaking").

Historical Ryukyuan attestations

• 沖縄語典 Okinawa goten (Okinawan language dictionary) (1896), by Masayo Nakamoto, records "「𛃥い（𛃥り）」簁（トホシ）、篩一種."

Discussion

• The verb form ゆーいん yuuin "to sieve, to sift" is attested in some Yomitan dialects.