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桃李. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
桃李, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
桃李 in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
桃李 you have here. The definition of the word
桃李 will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
桃李, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
Chinese
Etymology
The figurative sense is from an ancient anecdote that describes how planting either the peach or the plum tree in spring will give you shade in summer and fruit ripe for the picking in autumn as opposed to planting, let's say, thorns; also refers to the fact that peach and plum trees take considerable amount of time and care to cultivate, but the fruit is always sweet.
Pronunciation
| Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
|
| Character
|
桃
|
李
|
| Reading #
|
1/1
|
1/1
|
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)
|
táo
|
lǐ
|
Middle
Chinese
|
‹ daw ›
|
‹ liX ›
|
Old
Chinese
|
/*C.lˁaw/
|
/*C.rəʔ/
|
| English
|
peach
|
plum
|
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
|
桃
|
李
|
| Reading #
|
1/1
|
1/1
|
| No.
|
16844
|
17869
|
Phonetic
component
|
兆
|
子
|
Rime
group
|
宵
|
之
|
Rime
subdivision
|
1
|
0
|
Corresponding
MC rime
|
陶
|
里
|
Old
Chinese
|
/*l'aːw/
|
/*rɯʔ/
|
Noun
桃李
- (literal, Classical) peaches and plums
- (Classical) peach flowers and plum flowers
- (figurative) all the pupils of a teacher over their lifetime
Derived terms