士

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

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

• Appendix:Chinese radical/士
• 仕, 𫸑, 𢩿, 𬚯, 𥾘, 𧺑, 𬐂, 𪐢, 𫣸, 𤴶, 㐊, 吉, 志, 毐, 𰧭, 𥑟, 悫, 槖, 賣, 𧶠, 蠧, 𡆮, 𣪊, 𥒃

References

• 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

Glyph origin

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

Pictogram (象形) – axe-like tool; soldier.

Etymology 1

"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

Definitions

士

1. (obsolete) unmarried male; bachelor

   • 求我庶士、迨其吉兮。 [Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]

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

     Qiú wǒ shù shì, dài qí jí xī.

     For those many bachelors who seek me, now is favorably timely.

2. (obsolete) (honorific) man

   • 女曰：「雞鳴。」士曰：「昧旦。」 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
     女曰：「鸡鸣。」士曰：「昧旦。」 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]

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

     Nǚ yuē: “Jīmíng.” Shì yuē: “Mèidàn.”

     I the wife say: "It is the cock-crow." Ye the husband say: "It is grey-dawn."

   • 士為知己者死，女為悅己者容。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     士为知己者死，女为悦己者容。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Zhanguo Ce, circa 5^th – 3^rd centuries BCE

     Shì wèi zhījǐzhě sǐ, nǚ wèi yuèjǐzhě róng.

     A man will die for one who understands him, a lady will adorn herself for one who loves her.

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

   • 無恆產而有恆心者，惟士為能。若民，則無恆產，因無恆心。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     无恒产而有恒心者，惟士为能。若民，则无恒产，因无恒心。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Mencius, c. 4^th century BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Wú héngchǎn ér yǒu héngxīn zhě, wéi shì wéi néng. Ruò mín, zé wú héngchǎn, yīn wú héngxīn.

     They are only men of education (i.e., the shi), who, without a certain livelihood, are able to maintain a fixed heart. As to the people (i.e. lower commoners), if they have not a certain livelihood, it follows that they will not have a fixed heart.

   • 士貴耳，王者不貴。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     士贵耳，王者不贵。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Zhanguo Ce, circa 5^th – 3^rd centuries BCE

     Shì guì ěr, wángzhě bù guì.

     It is the shi that is noble, not the king.

   • 民之愚，不學而已；士之愚，則學非所學而益愚。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     民之愚，不学而已；士之愚，则学非所学而益愚。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 1903. Zou Rong, The Revolutionary Army

     Mín zhī yú, bù xué éryǐ; shì zhī yú, zé xué fēi suǒ xué ér yì yú.

     The uneducated commoners are ignorant simply because they do not study. The shi studies what is not worth studying, thus he becomes even more stupid.

8. scholar; academic; intellectual; intelligentsia

   博士  ―  bóshì  ―  doctor; doctoral degree

   院士  ―  yuànshì  ―  academician

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

• 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

• (Chinese chess pieces) 帥／帅 (shuài) / 將／将, 仕 (shì) / 士 (shì), 相 / 象 (xiàng), 俥／伡 / 車／车, 傌 / 㐷 / 馬／马 (mǎ), 炮 / 砲／炮, 兵 (bīng) / 卒

Compounds

Descendants

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

Definitions

士

1. (music) Cantonese opera gongche notation for the note low la (6̣).

   Synonym: 四 (sì) (Kunqu)

Derived terms

Etymology 3

References

• “士”, 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), A00831
• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A00740-002

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

• 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

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) し​ (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

士(し) • (shi) 

1. samurai, warrior

Suffix

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

References

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 士 (MC dzriX).

Pronunciation

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

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

士

Wikisource

士 (eumhun 선비 사 (seonbi sa))

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

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

士: Hán Nôm readings: sĩ, sỹ

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

References

• Nom Foundation