僕

Stroke order

僕 (Kangxi radical 9, 人+12, 14 strokes, cangjie input 人廿金人 (OTCO), four-corner 2223₄, composition ⿰亻菐)

• 㙸, 濮, 㯷, 襥, 纀

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 116, character 18
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 1094
• Dae Jaweon: page 247, character 30
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 218, character 9
• Unihan data for U+50D5

Historical forms of the character 僕
Oracle bone script j05000 Bronze inscriptions b03327 b03328 b03329 b03330 b03331 b03332 b03333 b03334 b03335 b03336 b03337 Small seal script s01961 s01962 Transcribed ancient scripts L37363 L37364 L37365 L37366 L37367 L37368 L37369 L37370 L25033 L25034 L25035 L25036 L25037 L25038 L25039 L25040 L25041 L25042
References: Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation), which in turn draws data from various collections of ancient forms of Chinese characters, including: Shuowen Jiezi (small seal), Jinwen Bian (bronze inscriptions), Liushutong (Liushutong characters) and Yinxu Jiaguwen Bian (oracle bone script).

In the oracle bone script and the early Western Zhou bronze script, it was a pictogram (象形) of a slave or prisoner, with hands holding a basket (其) to pick up garbage, an instrument of punishment (辛) above the head, and a tail (尾) to represent the slave's low status, akin to animals.

其 later corrupts into 甾, the hands (廾) move below 辛, and the slave's body (人) moves to become the left component. Later, 辛 corrupts into 丵 (probably by fusing with 甾) and combines with 廾 to give 菐 (OC *boːɡ, *puɡ), which functions as a phonetic component.

In the current form, it is essentially a phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *boːɡ, *buːɡ): semantic 人 (“man”) + phonetic 菐 (OC *boːɡ, *puɡ).

Probably related to Tibetan བུ (bu, “son; boy”) (Coblin, 1986).

Alternatively, Peiros and Starostin (1996) compare it to Tibetan ཕྲུག (phrug, “child”).

僕

1. servant; slave (often male)

   僕人／仆人  ―  púrén  ―  servant

2. (literary, humble, men's speech) I; me; your humble servant
3. (obsolete) coachman; groom
4. (obsolete) to attach; to adhere

   • 君子萬年，景命有僕。
     君子万年，景命有仆。

     From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11^th – 7^th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Jūnzǐ wàn nián, jǐngmìng yǒu pú.

     Yea for ten thousand years,
     The bright appointment is attached to your person.

5. a surname

• (slave): (female) 婢 (bì)

• “僕”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• 莆田市荔城区档案馆 , editor (2022), “仆”, in 莆仙方言文读字汇 (overall work in Mandarin and Puxian Min), page 179.

(Jōyō kanji)

1. I (masculine speech)
2. manservant

• Go-on: ぼく (boku, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: ほく (hoku)
• Kun: しもべ (shimobe, 僕)、やつがれ (yatsugare, 僕)

Shift in reading from the kun'yomi of shimobe or yatsugare to use the on'yomi of boku instead, first attested in kundoku contexts from the mid-to-late 1700s and becoming prevalent from around the Meiji period.

• (Tokyo) ぼく (Atamadaka – )
• (Tokyo) ぼく (Heiban – )
• IPA^(key):

僕(ぼく) • (boku) 

1. manservant, servant

   Synonyms: 下僕 (geboku), 下男 (genan), 僕 (shimobe)

僕(ぼく) or 僕(ボク) • (boku) 

1. (men's speech) I; me (personal pronoun; usually used by males; implies that the speaker is a young boy or otherwise boyish)
   • 1997 August 12, Maekawa, Takeshi, “未(み)知(ち)なる大(だい)地(ち)への巻(まき) ”, in 新(しん)鉄(てっ)拳(けん)チンミ , volume 1 (fiction), Tokyo: Kodansha, →ISBN, page 32:

     ぼく？ぼくは南(なん)高(こう)山(ざん)大(だい)林(りん)寺(じ)からちょっとした用(よう)で…

     Boku? Boku wa Nankō-zan Dairin-ji kara chotto shita yō de…

     Me? I was sent by the Dairin Temple on Mount Nankō...

   • 2003 September 22, Akinobu Uraku, “第(だい)61話(わ)　愛(いと)しきものの為(ため)に ”, in 東(とう)京(きょう)アンダーグラウンド , volume 11 (fiction), Square Enix, →ISBN, page 48:

     昔(むかし)の僕(ぼく)とは違(ちが)う

     Mukashi no boku to wa chigau

     I am not what I used to be.

   • Kore Yamazaki, “第1篇　April showers bring May flowers. ”, in 魔法使いの嫁(The Ancient Magus Bride) , volume 1 (fiction), Tokyo: Mag Garden, page 20:

     君(きみ)を魔法使い(ぼく)の弟(で)子(し)として歓(かん)迎(げい)するよ　死の愛し仔(スレイ・ベガ)…いや　チセ

     Kimi o boku no deshi to shite kangei suru yo Surei Bega… iya Chise

     You are welcome as my apprentice, Sleigh Beggey... I mean, Chise.

2. you, he, she (only used in reference to a person who uses this term to refer to themselves, or is one who is assumed to use it, such as a young boy)

   僕(ぼく)、迷(まい)子(ご)かな？

   Boku, maigo kana?

   Hi boy, are you lost?

   僕(ぼく)はいくつかな？

   Boku wa ikutsu kana?

   How old are you?

• If used by an adult male, semi-formal; in formal conversation 私 (watashi) is preferred.

Compound of 下(しも) (shimo, “lower”) + 部(べ) (be, “servant to the imperial court”). First attested in the Nihon Shoki of 720, with the spelling 下客.

• (Tokyo) しもべ (Heiban – )
• (Tokyo) しもべ (Odaka – )
• IPA^(key):

僕(しもべ) • (shimobe) 

1. manservant, servant

   Synonyms: 下僕 (geboku), 下男 (genan), 僕 (boku)

   忠実(ちゅうじつ)な僕(しもべ)

   chūjitsu na shimobe

   a faithful servant

2. a man of low social status, a follower of someone else
3. a low-ranking civil servant

• 忠(ちゅう)実(じつ)な僕(しもべ) (chūjitsuna shimobe)

僕 (eum 복 (bok))

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

僕: Hán Nôm readings: bộc, bọc

1. -servant (always in compounds, e.g. công bộc "public serviceman", "civil servant")

• Nom Foundation