Wiktionary

士

See also: 土 and ±
士 U+58EB, 士
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-58EB
← 壪
[U+58EA] 		CJK Unified Ideographs 壬 →
[U+58EC]
⼠ U+2F20, ⼠
KANGXI RADICAL SCHOLAR
← ⼟
[U+2F1F] 		Kangxi Radicals ⼡ →
[U+2F21]

Translingual

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Stroke order
 

Han character

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See images of
Radical 33 士

士 (Kangxi radical 33, 士+0, 3 strokes, cangjie input 十一 (JM), four-corner 40100, composition ⿱十一)

  1. Kangxi radical #33, ⼠.
  2. Shuowen Jiezi radical №9

Derived characters

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References

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  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 242, character 38
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 5638
  • Dae Jaweon: page 482, character 38
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 416, character 1
  • Unihan data for U+58EB

Chinese

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Glyph origin

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Historical forms of the character 士
Shang Western Zhou Warring States Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Chu slip and silk script Qin slip script Small seal script Transcribed ancient scripts
           
Characters in the same phonetic series (士) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
茌 *zrɯ
士 *zrɯʔ
仕 *zrɯʔ

Pictogram (象形) – a war axe. Later, it took the meaning of "soldier" and eventually "officer, intellectual". Partly related to 王 since in at least two characters it should represent a ritual axe, perhaps made of jade: in fact, it is related to 圭 and 金 despite their appearence.

Etymology 1

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simp. and trad.
 士
alternative forms 土
"bachelor, man, male"
  • Reminiscent of Austroasiatic synonyms like Old Khmer si (“male”) or MK words for "man, male" like *ʔŋsiil, *ensir, *kəsəy on the Malay Peninsula; Schuessler (2007) noted that foreign *-r sometimes left traces in OC initial complex. These relations, if, valid, would keep 士1 "bachelor, man, male" distinct from 士2 "servant, retainer, officer, scholar".
"take or give an office, serve", "servant", "retainer", "officer", "scholar"
  • Schuessler (2007) noted that one could naturally assume the semantic development "male > man > servant > to serve" in order to posit that 士1 "bachelor, man, male" is the same word as 士2 "servant, retainer, officer, scholar". Yet, the exopassive derivation 事 (OC *ʔsrɯs, *zrɯs) "assignment, affair, thing" and Tibeto-Burman counterparts demonstrated no association with "man, maleness"; & "male" hardly derives from "to serve".
  • Therefore, Schuessler derived these forms from 理 (OC *rɯʔ) "envoy, jail official, matchmaker" & proposed ultimate Austroasiatic origins. In terms of phonology, MC *dʐ- normally does not occur with *l- and *ʂ in an ST word-family, apparently confirming a non-ST provenance; however, MC *dʐ- here could go back to OC *s-r- (unlike MC *ʂ-, which is from OC *sr)
  • Subsequenly, Schuessler posited either relation to Austroasiatic or OC loan into Tibeto-Burman as Proto-Tibeto-Burman *ʔ-dzəj (“send on an errant”) (Matisoff, 2003), whence Burmese စာ (ca, “thing”) & Tibetan རྫས (rdzas, “thing, matter, object”) (Gong, 1999). Even so, Tibeto-Burman cognates of this etymon and 所 (suǒ) are difficult to distinguish.

Pronunciation

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  • Dialectal data
Variety Location 士
Mandarin Beijing /ʂʐ̩⁵¹/
Harbin /ʂʐ̩⁵³/
Tianjin /sz̩⁵³/
Jinan /ʂʐ̩²¹/
Qingdao /ʂʐ̩⁴²/
Zhengzhou /ʂʐ̩³¹²/
Xi'an /sz̩⁴⁴/
Xining /sz̩²¹³/
Yinchuan /ʂʐ̩¹³/
Lanzhou /ʂʐ̩¹³/
Ürümqi /sz̩²¹³/
Wuhan /sz̩³⁵/
Chengdu /sz̩¹³/
Guiyang /sz̩²¹³/
Kunming /sz̩²¹²/
Nanjing /sz̩⁴⁴/
Hefei /sz̩⁵³/
Jin Taiyuan /sz̩⁴⁵/
Pingyao /sz̩³⁵/
Hohhot /sz̩⁵⁵/
Wu Shanghai /zz̩²³/
Suzhou /zz̩³¹/
Hangzhou /zz̩¹³/
Wenzhou /zz̩³⁵/
Hui Shexian /sz̩²²/
Tunxi /sz̩¹¹/
Xiang Changsha /sz̩⁵⁵/
Xiangtan /sz̩⁵⁵/
Gan Nanchang /sz̩²¹/
Hakka Meixian /sz̩⁵³/
Taoyuan /sï⁵⁵/
Cantonese Guangzhou /si²²/
Nanning /sz̩²²/
Hong Kong /si²²/
Min Xiamen (Hokkien) /su²²/
Fuzhou (Eastern Min) /søy²⁴²/
Jian'ou (Northern Min) /su⁴⁴/
Shantou (Teochew) /sɯ³⁵/
Haikou (Hainanese) /si³³/
Rime
Character 士
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 崇 (20)
Final (韻) 之 (19)
Tone (調) Rising (X)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) III
Fanqie 鉏里切
Baxter dzriX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang 		/d͡ʒɨX/
Pan
Wuyun 		/ɖ͡ʐɨX/
Shao
Rongfen 		/d͡ʒieX/
Edwin
Pulleyblank 		/ɖ͡ʐɨX/
Li
Rong 		/d͡ʒiəX/
Wang
Li 		/d͡ʒĭəX/
Bernhard
Karlgren 		/ɖ͡ʐʱiX/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex 		zhì
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex 		zi6
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 士
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		shì
Middle
Chinese 		‹ dzriX ›
Old
Chinese 		/*[m-s-]rəʔ/
English officer; gentleman

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 士
Reading # 1/1
No. 11511
Phonetic
component 		士
Rime
group 		之
Rime
subdivision 		0
Corresponding
MC rime 		士
Old
Chinese 		/*zrɯʔ/

Definitions

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士

  1. (obsolete) unmarried male; bachelor
  2. (obsolete) (honorific) man
  3. (obsolete) general; high-ranking military officer
  4. (obsolete) soldier; noncommissioned officer
    士兵  ―  shìbīng  ―  soldier
  5. (historical) scholar-official (civil servant appointed by the emperor of China to perform day-to-day governance)
  6. (historical) self-appellation used by scholar-officials in ancient China, when addressing the emperor: I; subject
  7. (historical) a social stratum in ancient China
  8. scholar; academic; intellectual; intelligentsia
    博士  ―  bóshì  ―  doctor; doctoral degree
    院士  ―  yuànshì  ―  academician
    居士  ―  jūshì  ―  lay Buddhist or retired scholar
  9. (honorific, obsolete) suffix for a virtuous, knowledgeable or skilled person: commendable person
    女士  ―  nǚshì  ―  Lady
    護士／护士  ―  hùshì  ―  nurse
    人士  ―  rénshì  ―  public figure
    助產士／助产士  ―  zhùchǎnshì  ―  midwife
  10. (xiangqi) adviser; guard; minister: 🩨 (usually only on the black side, in some sets on both red and black sides)
  11. (obsolete) Alternative form of 仕 (shì, “to be an official”)
  12. a surname
Usage notes
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  • 士 is commonly used to render the /s/ sound (not followed by a vowel) in foreign names, e.g. 威士忌 (wēishìjì, “whiskey”), 巴士 (bāshì, “bus”), which is from Cantonese usage.
Coordinate terms
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Compounds

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Descendants

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Sino-Xenic (士):
  • → Japanese: 士(し) (shi)
  • → Korean: 사(士) (sa)
  • → Vietnamese: sĩ (士)

Etymology 2

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simp. and trad.
 士

Pronunciation

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Definitions

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士

  1. (music) Cantonese opera gongche notation for the note low la (6̣).
    Synonym: 四 (sì) (Kunqu)

Derived terms

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  • 仕 (si6) (Cantonese)

Etymology 3

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For pronunciation and definitions of 士 – see 土 (“earth; soil; dust; etc.”).
(This character is a variant form of 土).

References

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Japanese

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Kanji

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士

(Fifth grade kyōiku kanji)

Readings

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  • Go-on: じ (ji)
  • Kan-on: し (shi, Jōyō)
  • Kun: さむらい (samurai, 士)、つかさ (tsukasa)
  • Nanori: ひと (hito)

Compounds

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Compounds
Kanji in this term
士
し
Grade: 5
on'yomi

Etymology 1

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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士(し) • (shi) 

  1. samurai, warrior

Suffix

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士(し) • (-shi) 

  1. person with a certain qualification.
    弁護(べんご)士(し)
    bengoshi
    a lawyer
    会計(かいけい)士(し)
    kaikeishi
    an accountant

Etymology 2

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Kanji in this term
士
さむらい
Grade: 5
kun'yomi
For pronunciation and definitions of 士 – see the following entry.
【侍さむらい】S
[noun] (historical) a warrior class in medieval and pre-modern Japan; samurai
[noun] one who serves nearby:
[noun] a servant
[noun] a retainer
[noun] Short for 侍所 (samurai-dokoro): the Board of Retainers in the Kamakura and Muromachi periods.
[noun] an above-average person
(This term, 士, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)

References

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  1. ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  2. ^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

Korean

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Etymology

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From Middle Chinese 士 (MC dzriX).

Historical readings

Pronunciation

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  • (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key): [sʰa̠(ː)]
  • Phonetic hangul: [사(ː)]
    • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

Hanja

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Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

Wikisource

士 (eumhun 선비 사 (seonbi sa))

  1. hanja form? of 사 (“scholar; gentleman; soldier”)

Compounds

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Compounds

References

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  • 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [2]

Vietnamese

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Han character

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士: Hán Nôm readings: sĩ, sỹ

  1. chữ Hán form of sĩ (“scholar; soldier”).

Compounds

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References

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