摘要
殷墟甲骨文的「妹」字，自羅振玉提出「地名」和「昧爽」二解以來，廣為學者所接受。本文通過對甲骨卜辭的全面考察，認為「昧爽」之說完全不能成立，只有少數的「妹」字有可能是地名，而絕大多數的「妹」字在卜辭中應該解為否定詞，其音義與文獻的「蔑」相近。
Since Luo Zhen-yu （羅振玉） suggested that the character "mei" （妹） on Yin-xu oracle bones was either a place name or that it meant "dawn" (daybreak), scholars have accepted these interpretations. Based on a complete investigation of oracle bones inscriptions, this paper argues that the interpretation "dawn" is completely untenable, and that the interpretation "Place name" for the character "mei" is only possible in a minority of cases. In the vast majority of cases, the character "mei" on oracle bones is a negative particle whose pronunciation and meaning are closely related to that of the documented character "mie" （蔑）.