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, 𤲔, 𨂄, 𦱎

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 (Shanghai, Wugniu): 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 Neipu)
    • 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
  • (Northern: 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/
Bernhard 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

(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): [sa̠mɯ̟ɾa̠i]

• 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: (partial synonym; see "Usage notes") 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)

Usage notes

In modern popular usage, the terms bushi and samurai are often used in both English and Japanese somewhat loosely to refer to any soldier or warrior during Japan's feudal age (prior to the Meiji period). In historical contexts, these terms may be used with more specific senses, wherein bushi refers to any professional warrior, and samurai refers more strictly to a hereditary social class. See also Samurai on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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): [sa̠bɯ̟ɾa̠i]

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, Vocabvlario da Lingoa de Iapam (Nippo Jisho) [Vocabulary of the Language of Japan] (in Portuguese), Nagasaki, 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, “office attendants to the emperor gathered in, on the south side of the 清涼殿 (Seiryōden, “Emperor's dwelling”)”)
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. to be close, near
2. to serve, to take care of, to look after
3. attendant; servant
4. short of 侍生, humble pronoun when speaking to a superior
5. a surname: Shi

References

• Nom Foundation
• Từ điển Hán Nôm