寡人

Chinese

few; widowed man; person; people
simp. and trad.
(寡人)

Etymology

Kong Yingda explains this term as 寡德 (guǎdé zhī rén "person of meagre virtue").[1]

Pronunciation



Rime
Character
Reading # 1/1 1/1
Initial () (28) (38)
Final () (99) (43)
Tone (調) Rising (X) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Closed Open
Division () II III
Fanqie
Baxter kwaeX nyin
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/kˠuaX/ /ȵiɪn/
Pan
Wuyun
/kʷᵚaX/ /ȵin/
Shao
Rongfen
/kuaX/ /ȵʑjen/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/kwaɨX/ /ȵin/
Li
Rong
/kuaX/ /ȵiĕn/
Wang
Li
/kwaX/ /ȵʑĭĕn/
Bernard
Karlgren
/kwaX/ /ȵʑi̯ĕn/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
guǎ rén
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex
gwaa2 jan4
BaxterSagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character
Reading # 1/1 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)
guǎ rén
Middle
Chinese
‹ kwæX › ‹ nyin ›
Old
Chinese
/*[C.k]ʷˁraʔ/ /*ni[ŋ]/
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. *[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
Reading # 1/1 1/1
No. 4400 10800
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
0 1
Corresponding
MC rime
Old
Chinese
/*kʷraːʔ/ /*njin/

Pronoun

寡人

  1. (imperial, humble, archaic) I; we; "lonesome one" (similar to the royal we; reserved for used by monarchs to their subordinates)
  2. (noble, archaic) I (first-person pronoun used by the wife of a feudal prince)

See also

Noun

寡人

  1. lonely person

Derived terms

References

  1. 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

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