侍

侍 U+4F8D, 侍 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-4F8D ← 侌 [U+4F8C] CJK Unified Ideographs 侎 → [U+4F8E]

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

侍 (Kangxi radical 9, 人+6, 8 strokes, cangjie input 人土木戈 (OGDI), four-corner 2424₁, composition ⿰亻寺)

Derived characters

• 㣥

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 101, character 26
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 589
• Dae Jaweon: page 215, character 7
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 143, character 17
• Unihan data for U+4F8D

Chinese

trad.		侍
simp. #		侍

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 侍
Small seal script s05766 Transcribed ancient scripts L19117 L19118 L19119 L19120
References: Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation), which in turn draws data from various collections of ancient forms of Chinese characters, including: Shuowen Jiezi (small seal), Jinwen Bian (bronze inscriptions), Liushutong (Liushutong characters) and Yinxu Jiaguwen Bian (oracle bone script).

Characters in the same phonetic series (寺) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
等	*tɯːʔ, *tɯːŋʔ
待	*dɯːʔ
寺	*ljɯs
持	*l'ɯ
峙	*dɯʔ
痔	*dɯʔ
跱	*dɯʔ
歭	*dɯʔ
洔	*dɯʔ, *tjɯʔ
畤	*dɯʔ, *tjɯʔ, *djɯʔ
秲	*dɯʔ, *djɯs
庤	*dɯʔ
時	*djɯ
鰣	*djɯ
塒	*djɯ
蒔	*djɯ, *djɯs
榯	*djɯ
恃	*djɯʔ
侍	*djɯs
詩	*hljɯ
邿	*hljɯ
特	*dɯːɡ

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): shì (shi⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄕˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): si⁶
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): sṳ
• Eastern Min (BUC): sê
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): sī / sīr / sāi / sū

  (Teochew, Peng'im): se⁶

• Wu (Wugniu)
  • (Northern): ⁶zy

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: shì
    • Zhuyin: ㄕˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: shìh
    • Wade–Giles: shih⁴
    • Yale: shr̀
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shyh
    • Palladius: ши (ši)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʂʐ̩⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: si⁶
    • Yale: sih
    • Cantonese Pinyin: si⁶
    • Guangdong Romanization: xi⁶
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /siː²²/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: sṳ
    • Hakka Romanization System: sii
    • Hagfa Pinyim: si⁴
    • Sinological IPA: /sɨ⁵⁵/
• Eastern Min
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: sê
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sɛi²⁴²/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: sī
    • Tâi-lô: sī
    • Phofsit Daibuun: si
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /si⁴¹/
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /si²²/
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: sīr
    • Tâi-lô: sīr
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /sɯ⁴¹/
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: sāi
    • Tâi-lô: sāi
    • Phofsit Daibuun: sai
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /sai⁴¹/
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /sai²²/
    • IPA (Taipei, Kaohsiung): /sai³³/
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: sū
    • Tâi-lô: sū
    • Phofsit Daibuun: su
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /su²²/

Note:

• sī/sīr - literary;
• sāi - vernacular;
• sū - vernacular (俗).

• (Teochew)
  • Peng'im: se⁶
  • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: sṳ̆
  • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sɯ³⁵/
• Wu
  • (Shanghai):
    • Wugniu: ⁶zy
    • MiniDict: zy^去
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ³zr
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /zz̩²³/

---

• Middle Chinese: dzyiH

Rime
Character	侍
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	常 (25)
Final (韻)	之 (19)
Tone (調)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	III
Fanqie	時吏切
Baxter	dzyiH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/d͡ʑɨH/
Pan Wuyun	/d͡ʑɨH/
Shao Rongfen	/d͡ʑieH/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/d͡ʑɨH/
Li Rong	/ʑiəH/
Wang Li	/ʑĭəH/
Bernard Karlgren	/ʑiH/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	shì
Expected Cantonese Reflex	si6

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*[d]əʔ-s/

  (Zhengzhang): /*djɯs/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	侍
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	shì
Middle Chinese	‹ dzyiH ›
Old Chinese	/*[d]əʔ-s/
English	accompany, wait upon
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] 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	侍
Reading #	1/1
No.	12049
Phonetic component	寺
Rime group	之
Rime subdivision	0
Corresponding MC rime	侍
Old Chinese	/*djɯs/

Definitions

侍

1. to wait upon; to serve
2. attendant; servant
3. a surname: Shi

Compounds

• 中常侍 (zhōngchángshì)
• 伏侍
• 侍中 (shìzhōng)
• 侍人
• 侍候 (shìhòu)
• 侍兒／侍儿 (shì'ér)
• 侍奉 (shìfèng)
• 侍女 (shìnǚ)
• 侍妾 (shìqiè)
• 侍子
• 侍巾櫛／侍巾栉
• 侍弄 (shìnòng)
• 侍役
• 侍從／侍从 (shìcóng)
• 侍御
• 侍應生／侍应生 (shìyìngshēng)
• 侍生
• 侍立 (shìlì)
• 侍者 (shìzhě)
• 侍衛／侍卫 (shìwèi)
• 侍講／侍讲
• 侍讀／侍读 (shìdú)
• 侍郎 (shìláng)
• 侍醫／侍医
• 俠侍／侠侍
• 內侍／内侍 (nèishì)
• 奉侍
• 女侍 (nǚshì)
• 姬侍
• 媵侍 (yìngshì)
• 常侍 (chángshì)
• 接侍
• 散騎常侍／散骑常侍
• 服侍
• 近侍 (jìnshì)
• 選侍／选侍
• 重侍下
• 閽侍／阍侍
• 陪侍 (péishì)
• 隨侍／随侍
• 鵠侍／鹄侍

 

Japanese

Kanji

侍

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

1. samurai
2. wait upon, serve

Readings

• Go-on: じ (ji, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: し (shi)
• Kun: さぶらい (saburai, 侍)^{←さぶらひ (saburafi, さぶらひ, historical)}; さぶらう (saburau, 侍う)^{←さぶらふ (saburafu, 侍ふ, historical)}; さむらい (samurai, 侍, Jōyō)^{←さむらひ (samurafi, さむらひ, historical)}; さむらう (samurau, 侍う)^{←さむらふ (samurafu, 侍ふ, historical)}; はべる (haberu, 侍る)
• Nanori: つこ (tsuko); ひと (hito)

Compounds

Compounds

• 侍(じ)医(い) (jī)
• 侍(じ)衛(えい) (jiei)
• 侍(じ)御(ぎょ) (jigyo)
• 侍(じ)講(こう) (jikō)
• 侍(じ)祭(さい) (jisai)
• 侍(じ)史(し) (jishi)
• 侍(じ)者(しゃ) (jisha)
• 侍(じ)臣(しん) (jishin)
• 侍(じ)従(じゅう) (jijū)
• 侍(じ)女(じょ) (jijo)
• 侍(じ)僧(そう) (jisō)
• 侍(じ)読(どく) (jidoku)
• 侍(じ)婢(ひ) (jihi)
• 侍(じ)立(りつ) (jiritsu)
• 近(きん)侍(じ) (kinji)
• 典(てん)侍(じ) (tenji)
• 内(ない)侍(じ) (naiji)
• 陪(ばい)侍(じ) (baiji)

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
侍
さむらい Grade: S
kun’yomi

Alternative spelling
士

⟨sa morapi₁⟩ → /saburapi/ → /saburafi/ → /samurawi/ → /samurai/

Sound shift from saburai (see below), itself the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, stem or continuative form) of classical verb 侍ふ (saburafu, “to serve”, modern saburau), ultimately derived from さ (sa-, prefix of uncertain meaning) + 守らふ (morafu, “to keep watch”, modern morau).

The shift from saburaf- → samuraf- is due to the development of the 女性語 (josei-go, “women's language”) in Middle Japanese. A different development of this b is seen in 候 (sōrō, “service”, classical saurafu).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) さむらい [sàmúráí] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [sa̠mɯ̟ᵝɾa̠i]

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

侍(さむらい) • (samurai) ^{←さむらひ (samurafi)?}

1. (historical) a warrior class in medieval and pre-modern Japan; samurai

   Synonym: 武士 (bushi)

2. one who serves nearby:
   1. a servant
   2. a retainer
3. Short for 侍所 (samurai-dokoro): the Board of Retainers in the Kamakura and Muromachi periods.
4. an above-average person

Derived terms

Derived terms

• 侍(さむらい)気質(かたぎ) (samurai katagi)
• 田舎(いなか)侍(ざむらい) (inaka-zamurai)
• 犬(いぬ)侍(ざむらい) (inuzamurai)
• 忰(かせ)侍(ざむらい) (kase-zamurai)
• 国(くに)侍(ざむらい) (kuni-zamurai)
• 若(わか)侍(ざむらい) (waka-zamurai)

Idioms

• 黄(こ)金(がね)と侍(さむらい)は朽(く)ちても朽(く)ちぬ (kogane to samurai wa kuchite mo kuchinu)

See also

• 武士(ぶし)道(どう) (bushidō, “samurai code of conduct”)
• 浪人(ろうにん) (rōnin, “masterless samurai”)

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
侍
さぶらい Grade: S
kun’yomi

⟨sa morapi₁⟩ → /saburapi/ → /saburafi/ → /saburawi/ → /saburai/

The 連用形 (ren'yōkei, stem or continuative form) of classical verb 侍ふ (saburafu, “to serve”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [sa̠bɯ̟ᵝɾa̠i]

Noun

侍(さぶらい) • (saburai) ^{←さぶらひ (saburafi)?}

1. (archaic) one who serves nearby:
   1. a servant
   2. a retainer
   3. a warrior; particularly, a samurai
      • 1603–1604, Nippo Jisho, page 545:

        Saburai. サブライ(侍) 貴族, または,尊敬すべき人〔武士〕.

2. Synonym of 下侍 (shimosaburai): This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.
3. Short for 侍所 (saburai-dokoro): a samurai guardhouse in the Heian period

Korean

Hanja

侍 (eum 시 (si))

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Vietnamese

Han character

侍: Hán Nôm readings: thị

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

References

• Nom Foundation