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寡人. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
寡人, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
寡人 in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
寡人 you have here. The definition of the word
寡人 will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
寡人, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
Chinese
Etymology
Kong Yingda explains this term as 寡德之人 (guǎdé zhī rén "person of meagre virtue").
Pronunciation
| Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
|
| Character
|
寡
|
人
|
| Reading #
|
1/1
|
1/1
|
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)
|
guǎ
|
rén
|
Middle
Chinese
|
‹ kwæX ›
|
‹ nyin ›
|
Old
Chinese
|
/*ʷˁraʔ/
|
/*ni/
|
| English
|
few
|
(other) person
|
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system:
* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. * 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
|
寡
|
人
|
| Reading #
|
1/1
|
1/1
|
| No.
|
4400
|
10800
|
Phonetic
component
|
寡
|
人
|
Rime
group
|
魚
|
眞
|
Rime
subdivision
|
0
|
1
|
Corresponding
MC rime
|
寡
|
仁
|
Old
Chinese
|
/*kʷraːʔ/
|
/*njin/
|
Pronoun
寡人
- (imperial, humble, archaic) I; we; "lonesome one" (similar to the royal we; first person pronoun reserved for use by monarchs to refer to themselves when speaking to their subordinates)
- (noble, archaic) I (first-person pronoun used by the wife of a feudal prince)
See also
Noun
寡人
- lonely person
Derived terms
References
- ^ Zheng Xuan (annotator) and Kong Yingda (clarifier).《禮記正義》 Correct Meanings of Book of Rites, 卷五 "Volume 5". quote:「寡人者，言己是寡德之人。」
Further reading