僕

See also 仆

Translingual

Etymology

Phono-semantic compound (形聲): semantic 亻 (“man”) + phonetic 菐

Han character

僕 (radical 9 人+12, 14 strokes, cangjie input 人廿金人 (OTCO), four-corner 2223₄, composition ⿰亻菐)

1. slave, servant, I

Derived terms

• 濮, 纀, 襥

References

• KangXi: page 116, character 18
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 1094
• Dae Jaweon: page 247, character 30
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 218, character 9
• Unihan data for U+50D5

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Cantonese

Hanzi

僕 (simplified 仆, jyutping buk6, Yale buk6)

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Japanese

Kanji

僕 (common “Jōyō” kanji)

Readings

• On: ぼく (boku)
• Kun: しもべ (shimobe), やつがれ (yatsugare)

Compounds

• 家僕
• 学僕
• 下僕
• 公僕
• 校僕
• 従僕
• 忠実な僕
• 忠僕
• 老僕
• 僕たち
• 僕ら
• 僕ん所
• 僕達
• 僕仲間
• 僕婢
• 僕蔵

Pronunciation 1

• On'yomi
• Standard Accent: ぼ​く (Atamadaka)

Pronoun

僕 (hiragana ぼく, katakana ボク, romaji boku)

1. I (personal pronoun; implies that the speaker is a young boy or otherwise boyish)
2. you; he; she (when the person to which this refers uses this term to refer to themselves, or is one who is assumed to use it, such as a young boy)

Usage notes

If used by an adult male, semi-formal; in formal conversation 私 is preferred, while in casual conversation 俺 is preferred.

Related terms

• 俺 (おれ, ore): I (casual, rude)
• 私 (わたし, watashi): I (polite)
• 我 (われ, ware)

Pronunciation 2

• Kun'yomi

Noun

僕 (hiragana しもべ, romaji shimobe)

1. manservant; servant

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Korean

Hanja

僕 (hangeul 복, revised bok, McCune-Reischauer pok, Yale pok)

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Mandarin

Hanzi

僕 (simplified 仆, pinyin pú (pu2), Wade-Giles p'u²)

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Middle Chinese

Han character

僕 (*bhuk)

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Vietnamese

Han character

僕 (bộc, bọc)

References

• Nom Foundation