夫

Stroke order

夫 (Kangxi radical 37, 大+1, 4 strokes, cangjie input 手人 (QO), four-corner 5003₀, composition ⿻二人 or ⿻一大)

• 替 賛 (top simplified from 竝 and 兟)

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 248, character 11
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 5835
• Dae Jaweon: page 507, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 521, character 1
• Unihan data for U+592B

Historical forms of the character 夫
Shang	Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意) : 大 (“man”) + 一 (“hairpin”) – a man with a hairpin in his hair.

In ancient times, when men reached the age of 20, they bound their hair with a hairpin during the Guan Li ceremony. The hairpin is the sign of “a grownup man”.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *pʷa (“male, father, third-person pronoun”). Cognate with Tibetan ཕ། (pha, “father”), Burmese ဘ (bha., “father”). Possibly related to 父 (OC *paʔ, *baʔ, “father”).

夫

1. male adult; man

   • 維此奄息，百夫之特。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
     维此奄息，百夫之特。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]

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

     Wéi cǐ Yǎnxī, bǎifū zhī tè.

     And this Yansi,
     Was a man above a hundred.

   • 劍閣崢嶸而崔嵬，一夫當關，萬夫莫開。 [MSC, trad.]
     剑阁峥嵘而崔嵬，一夫当关，万夫莫开。 [MSC, simp.]

     From: c. early 8th century, Li Bai (李白), 蜀道難. Translated into the English as The Steep Road to Shuh by Shigeyoshi Obata (小畑薫良), 1922.

     Jiàngé zhēngróng ér cuīwéi, yī fū dāng guān, wàn fū mò kāi.

     The gate of the Sword Parapet stands firm on its frightful height.
     One man defending it, a thousand men could not break it open.

2. husband

   前夫  ―  qiánfū  ―  ex-husband

   夫婦／夫妇  ―  fūfù  ―  married couple

3. manual worker

   農夫／农夫  ―  nóngfū  ―  peasant

   漁夫／渔夫  ―  yúfū  ―  fisherman

4. conscripted laborer

• → Proto-Southwestern Tai: *pʰuəᴬ
  • Thai: ผัว (pǔua, “husband”)

“That”. Schuessler (2007) connects this with Proto-Loloish *m-ba (“on the other side”), Tibetan ཕ (pha, “beyond, farther on, onward”). Maybe related to 彼 (OC *pralʔ, “that”). Pulleyblank (1995) relates the introductory particle sense with 凡 (OC *bom).

In the sense "is it not?", probably a contraction of 不 (OC *pɯ, *pɯʔ, *pɯ') and 乎 (OC *ɢaː) (Pulleyblank, 1995, p. 145).

夫

1. ^† A generic personal pronoun – he; she; it; they.
2. ^† A generic demonstrative pronoun – this; that; these; those.

   • 夫人不言，言必有中。 [Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]

     From: The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Fú rén bù yán, yán bì yǒu zhòng.

     This man seldom speaks; when he does, he is sure to hit the point.

   • 微夫人之力不及此。 [Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]

     From: Commentary of Zuo, c. 4^th century BCE

     Wēi fú rén zhī lì bù jí cǐ.

     Without that person's support, I would not be who I am today.

3. ^† Sentence-initial particle which introduces a topic.

   • 夫將者，國之輔也。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     夫将者，国之辅也。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Art of War, circa 5^th century BCE

     Fú jiàng zhě, guó zhī fǔ yě.

     The general is the country's defense.

4. ^† Sentence-final particle, meaning “Is it not?”.

   • 子在川上，曰：「逝者如斯夫！不舍晝夜。」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     子在川上，曰：「逝者如斯夫！不舍昼夜。」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Zǐ zài chuān shàng, yuē: “Shìzhěrúsī fú! Bù shè zhòuyè.”

     The Master standing by a stream, said, "It passes on just like this, not ceasing day or night!"

5. ^† Meaningless particle in the middle of a sentence.