符水

Chinese

		mark; sign; talisman mark; sign; talisman; to seal; to correspond (to); tally; symbol; written charm; to coincide	water; river
trad. (符水)		符	水
simp. #(符水)		符	水

Etymology

符 (fú) is short for 符籙／符箓 (fúlù, mysterious writing used by Daoists to fight against ghosts and spirits). A Daoist priest would burn writing which was deemed to have magical properties, and then mix the ashes with water. This water was believed to have healing powers. Zhang Jue (d. 184), the leader of the Yellow Turban Rebellion gave out this water during the outbreak of an epidemic disease. In this way, he attracted a large following, which eventually led to the rebellion.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): fúshuǐ

  (Zhuyin): ㄈㄨˊ ㄕㄨㄟˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): fu⁴ seoi²

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: fúshuǐ
    • Zhuyin: ㄈㄨˊ ㄕㄨㄟˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: fúshuěi
    • Wade–Giles: fu²-shui³
    • Yale: fú-shwěi
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: fwushoei
    • Palladius: фушуй (fušuj)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /fu³⁵ ʂu̯eɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: fu⁴ seoi²
    • Yale: fùh séui
    • Cantonese Pinyin: fu⁴ soey²
    • Guangdong Romanization: fu⁴ sêu²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /fuː²¹ sɵy̯³⁵/

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• Middle Chinese: bju sywijX

Rime
Character	符	水
Reading #	1/1	1/1
Initial (聲)	並 (3)	書 (26)
Final (韻)	虞 (24)	脂 (18)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Rising (X)
Openness (開合)	Closed	Closed
Division (等)	III	III
Fanqie	防無切	式軌切
Baxter	bju	sywijX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/bɨo/	/ɕˠiuɪX/
Pan Wuyun	/bio/	/ɕʷᵚiX/
Shao Rongfen	/bio/	/ɕiuɪX/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/buə̆/	/ɕjwiX/
Li Rong	/bio/	/ɕjuiX/
Wang Li	/bĭu/	/ɕwiX/
Bernard Karlgren	/bʱi̯u/	/ɕwiX/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	fú	shuǐ
Expected Cantonese Reflex	fu4	seoi2

Noun

符水

1. magic water (usually mixed with the ashes of a burnt Taoist fulu (written talisman)); charmed water

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (符水):

• → Vietnamese: phù thuỷ (符水)