小康

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Chinese

small; tiny; few
small; tiny; few; young
 
 peaceful; spongy (of radishes)
trad. (小康) 小 康
simp. #(小康) 小 康
Literally: “small tranquility”.
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Etymology

From the Book of Rites, Book 9 (《禮記·禮運》):

……如有不由此者，在勢者去，眾以為殃，是謂小康。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
……如有不由此者，在势者去，众以为殃，是谓小康。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
From: The Book of Rites, c. 4th – 2nd century BCE, translated based on James Legge's version
...... Rú yǒu bù yóu cǐ zhě, zài shì zhě qù, zhòng yǐ wéi yāng, shì wèi xiǎokāng.
Any rulers who did not follow this course were driven away by those who possessed power and position, and all regarded them as pests. This is the period of what we call Small Tranquillity.

Pronunciation

Rime
Character 小 康
Reading # 1/1 1/1
Initial (聲) 心 (16) 溪 (29)
Final (韻) 宵 (91) 唐 (101)
Tone (調) Rising (X) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open Open
Division (等) III I
Fanqie 私兆切 苦岡切
Baxter sjewX khang
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang 		/siᴇuX/ /kʰɑŋ/
Pan
Wuyun 		/siɛuX/ /kʰɑŋ/
Shao
Rongfen 		/sjæuX/ /kʰɑŋ/
Edwin
Pulleyblank 		/siawX/ /kʰaŋ/
Li
Rong 		/siɛuX/ /kʰɑŋ/
Wang
Li 		/sĭɛuX/ /kʰɑŋ/
Bernhard
Karlgren 		/si̯ɛuX/ /kʰɑŋ/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex 		xiǎo kāng
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex 		siu2 hong1
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 小 康
Reading # 1/1 2/3
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		xiǎo kāng
Middle
Chinese 		‹ sjewX › ‹ khang ›
Old
Chinese 		/*ewʔ/ /*k-r̥ˁaŋ/
English small tranquil; at ease

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 小 康
Reading # 1/1 1/1
No. 13705 3981
Phonetic
component 		小 庚
Rime
group 		宵 陽
Rime
subdivision 		2 0
Corresponding
MC rime 		小 康
Old
Chinese 		/*smewʔ/ /*kʰlaːŋ/
Notes 甲金文象沙而指小，
指事字

Noun

小康

  1. (Chinese philosophy) Confucian near-ideal state of society; period of peace and prosperity
  2. (modern uses) comparatively good living standards; moderate affluence

Derived terms

Japanese

Kanji in this term
小 康
しょう
Grade: 1 		こう
Grade: 4
on'yomi

Etymology

/seukau/ → /ɕeukau/ → /ɕeukɔː/ → /ɕoːkoː/

From Middle Chinese compound 小康 (sjewX khang, literally “small + tranquil”). Compare modern Cantonese siu2 hong1 or Mandarin xiǎokāng.

Pronunciation

Noun

小(しょう)康(こう) • (shōkō) ←せうかう (seukau)?

  1. a lull, a respite, a breathing spell, a short time of peace

Derived terms

References

  1. ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
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