儒

Translingual

Han character

儒 (Kangxi radical 9, 人+14, 16 strokes, cangjie input 人一月月 (OMBB), four-corner 2122₇, composition ⿰亻需)

Derived characters

• 𡃽, 𮒯

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 119, character 30
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 1220
• Dae Jaweon: page 253, character 8
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 230, character 9
• Unihan data for U+5112

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 儒
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts
Small seal script s05667 Transcribed ancient scripts L30678 L30679 L30680 L03118 L03119 L03120 L03121 L03111 L03112 L03113 L03114 L03115 L03116 L03117
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).

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *njo) : semantic 亻 (“human”) + phonetic 需 (OC *sno).

Etymology

Origin obscure. Chen (2013) – following Xu Shen's Shuowen Jiezi, etc. – links 儒 (OC *njo, “sorcerers, intellectuals, government officials, Confucians”) to 柔 (OC *mlju, “soft”) and 懦 (OC *noːls, *njo, “weak, timid”) "probably derived from the nature of the profession, registered by softness, suppleness, and flexibility".

Pronunciation

Definitions

儒

1. scholar; learned person

   儒林外史  ―  Rúlín wàishǐ  ―  Unofficial History of the Scholars (a satirical novel by 吳敬梓 Wu Jingzi)

   • 子謂子夏曰：「女為君子儒，無為小人儒。」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     子谓子夏曰：「女为君子儒，无为小人儒。」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE

     Zǐ wèi Zǐxià yuē: “Rǔ wèi jūnzǐ rú, wú wèi xiǎorén rú.”

     The Master said to Zi Xia, "Do you be a scholar after the style of the superior man, and not after that of the mean man."

   • 以九兩系邦國之民：……四曰儒，以道得民。……。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     以九两系邦国之民：……四曰儒，以道得民。……。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Rites of Zhou, circa 3^rd century BCE

     Yǐ jiǔ liǎng xì bāngguó zhī mín:...... Sì yuē rú, yǐ dào dé mín........

     Use nine working-duos to involve the people of the polities and states: the fourth are called the scholars, who use moral principles to procure people. .

2. Confucian; Ruist

   • 通天、地、人曰儒，通天、地而不通人曰伎。 [Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]

     From: Yang Xiong, Fa Yan (Exemplary Sayings), 9 CE

     Tōng tiān, dì, rén yuē rú, tōng tiān, dì ér bùtōng rén yuē jì.

     Having a penetrating understanding of Heaven, Earth, and Man is called ru (Confucian). Having a penetrating understanding of Heaven and Earth, but not understanding Man, is called "clever."

3. Confucianism; Ruism

   • 孟子曰：「逃墨必歸於楊，逃楊必歸於儒。歸，斯受之而已矣。今之與楊墨辯者，如追放豚，既入其苙，又從而招之。」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     孟子曰：「逃墨必归于杨，逃杨必归于儒。归，斯受之而已矣。今之与杨墨辩者，如追放豚，既入其苙，又从而招之。」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Mencius, c. 4^th century BCE

     Mèngzǐ yuē: “Táo Mò bì guī yú Yáng, táo Yáng bì guī yú Rú. Guī, sī shòu zhī ér yǐ yǐ. Jīn zhī yǔ Yángmò biàn zhě, rú zhuī fàng tún, jì rù qí lì, yòu cóng ér zhāo zhī.”

     Mencius said, 'Those who are fleeing from the errors of Mohism naturally turn to Yangism, and those who are fleeing from the errors of Yang naturally turn to Ruism. When they so turn, they should at once and simply be received. Those who nowadays dispute with the followers of Yangism and Mohism do so as if they were pursuing a stray pig, the leg of which, after they have got it to enter the pen, they proceed to tie.'

4. weak; cowardly
5. a surname

Compounds

References

• “儒”, 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–
• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A00253

Japanese

Kanji

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

1. Confucianism
2. Confucianist

Readings

• Go-on: にゅう (nyū)
• Kan-on: じゅ (ju, Jōyō)
• Kun: やわらか (yawaraka); うるおす (uruosu); したがう (shitagau)

Compounds

• 儒学(じゅがく) (jugaku)
• 儒教(じゅきょう) (jukyō)
• 碩儒(せきじゅ) (sekiju)
• 宋儒(そうじゅ) (sōju)

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 儒 (MC nyu).

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key):
• Phonetic hangul:

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

儒

Wikisource

儒 (eumhun 선비 유 (seonbi yu))

1. Hanja form^? of 유 (“scholar”).
2. Hanja form^? of 유 (“Confucianism”).

Compounds

References

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

Vietnamese

Han character

儒: Hán Nôm readings: nho, nhu, nhô

1. scholar
2. Ruism, Confucianism

References