Wiktionary

僕

See also: 仆
僕 U+50D5, 僕
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-50D5
← 僔
[U+50D4] 		CJK Unified Ideographs 僖 →
[U+50D6]

TranslingualEdit

Japanese 僕
Simplified 仆
Traditional 僕
Stroke order
 

Han characterEdit

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

Derived termsEdit

ReferencesEdit

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

ChineseEdit

trad. 僕
simp. 仆*
alternative forms 㒒

Glyph originEdit

Historical forms of the character 僕
Oracle bone script
 

j05000

Bronze inscriptions
 

b03327

 

b03328

 

b03329

 

b03330

 

b03331

 

b03332

 

b03333

 

b03334

 

b03335

 

b03336

 

b03337

Small seal script
 

s01961

 

s01962

Transcribed ancient scripts
 

L37363

 

L37364

 

L37365

 

L37366

 

L37367

 

L37368

 

L37369

 

L37370

 

L25033

 

L25034

 

L25035

 

L25036

 

L25037

 

L25038

 

L25039

 

L25040

 

L25041

 

L25042

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 (菐) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
樸 *baː, *pʰroːɡ, *poːɡ, *boːɡ
璞 *pʰroːɡ
墣 *pʰroːɡ, *pʰoːɡ
撲 *broːɡ, *pʰoːɡ
轐 *poːɡ, *buːɡ
獛 *poːɡ
蹼 *poːɡ
襆 *poːɡ, *boɡ
濮 *poːɡ
纀 *poːɡ
醭 *pʰoːɡ
僕 *boːɡ, *buːɡ
菐 *boːɡ, *puɡ
穙 *boːɡ
鏷 *buːɡ
幞 *boɡ

In the oracle bone script and the early Western Zhou bronze script, it was a pictogram (象形) of a slave or prisoner, with hands holding a basket (其) to pick up garbage, an instrument of punishment (辛) above the head, and a tail (尾) to represent the slave's low status, akin to animals.

其 later corrupts into 甾, the hands (廾) move below 辛, and the slave's body (人) moves to become the left component. Later, 辛 corrupts into 丵 (probably by fusing with 甾) and combines with 廾 to give 菐 (OC *boːɡ, *puɡ), which functions as a phonetic component.

In the current form, it is essentially a phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *boːɡ, *buːɡ): semantic 人 (“man”) + phonetic 菐 (OC *boːɡ, *puɡ).

EtymologyEdit

Probably related to Tibetan བུ (bu, “son; boy”) (Coblin, 1986).

Alternatively, Peiros and Starostin (1996) compare it to Tibetan ཕྲུག (phrug, “child”).

PronunciationEdit

Note:
  • pah5 - colloquial;
  • peh5 - literary.
  • Min Bei
  • Min Dong
  • Min Nan
  • Wu
  • Xiang
    • Dialectal data
    Variety Location 僕
    Mandarin Beijing /pʰu³⁵/
    Harbin /pʰu²¹³/
    Tianjin /pʰu⁴⁵/
    Jinan /pʰu⁵⁵/
    Qingdao /pʰu⁵⁵/
    Zhengzhou /pʰu⁵³/
    Xi'an /pʰu²⁴/
    Xining /pʰv̩²⁴/
    Yinchuan /pʰu⁵³/
    Lanzhou /pʰu⁵³/
    Ürümqi /pʰu⁵¹/
    Wuhan /pʰu²¹³/
    Chengdu /pʰu³¹/
    Guiyang /pʰu²¹/
    Kunming /pʰu³¹/
    Nanjing /pʰuʔ⁵/
    Hefei /pʰəʔ⁵/
    Jin Taiyuan /pʰaʔ²/
    Pingyao
    Hohhot /pʰaʔ⁴³/
    Wu Shanghai /pʰoʔ⁵/ ～倒
    /boʔ¹/ ～人
    Suzhou /boʔ³/
    Hangzhou /boʔ²/
    Wenzhou /bo²¹³/
    Hui Shexian /pʰɔʔ²¹/
    Tunxi /pʰu⁵/
    Xiang Changsha /pʰu²⁴/
    Xiangtan /pʰu²⁴/
    Gan Nanchang
    Hakka Meixian /pʰuk̚⁵/
    Taoyuan /pʰuk̚²²/
    Cantonese Guangzhou /pok̚²/ ～人
    /pʰok̚⁵/ ～低
    Nanning /pʰuk̚²²/
    Hong Kong /pok̚²/ ～人
    /pʰok̚⁵/ ～低
    Min Xiamen (Min Nan) /pʰɔk̚⁵/
    Fuzhou (Min Dong) /puʔ⁵/
    Jian'ou (Min Bei) /pʰu²⁴/
    Shantou (Min Nan) /pʰok̚²/
    Haikou (Min Nan) /ʔbok̚³/
    Rime
    Character 僕 僕
    Reading # 1/2 2/2
    Initial (聲) 並 (3) 並 (3)
    Final (韻) 東 (3) 冬 (6)
    Tone (調) Checked (Ø) Checked (Ø)
    Openness (開合) Open Open
    Division (等) I I
    Fanqie 蒲木切 蒲沃切
    Baxter buwk bowk
    Reconstructions
    Zhengzhang
    Shangfang         		/buk̚/ /buok̚/
    Pan
    Wuyun         		/buk̚/ /buok̚/
    Shao
    Rongfen         		/buk̚/ /bok̚/
    Edwin
    Pulleyblank         		/bəwk̚/ /bawk̚/
    Li
    Rong         		/buk̚/ /bok̚/
    Wang
    Li         		/buk̚/ /buok̚/
    Bernard
    Karlgren         		/bʱuk̚/ /bʱuok̚/
    Expected
    Mandarin
    Reflex         		bú bú
    Expected
    Cantonese
    Reflex         		buk6 buk6
    Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
    Character 僕
    Reading # 1/1
    Modern
    Beijing
    (Pinyin)         		pú
    Middle
    Chinese         		‹ buwk ›
    Old
    Chinese         		/*[b]ˁok/
    English charioteer, servant

    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 僕 僕
    Reading # 1/2 2/2
    No. 9895 9899
    Phonetic
    component         		菐 菐
    Rime
    group         		屋 覺
    Rime
    subdivision         		0 1
    Corresponding
    MC rime         		暴 僕
    Old
    Chinese         		/*boːɡ/ /*buːɡ/

    DefinitionsEdit

    僕

    1. servant; slave (often male)
      僕人／仆人  ―  púrén  ―  servant
    2. (literary, humble, men's speech) I; me; your humble servant
    3. (obsolete) coachman; groom
    4. (obsolete) to attach; to adhere
    5. a surname

    Coordinate termsEdit

    • (slave): (female) 婢 (bì)

    CompoundsEdit

    JapaneseEdit

    KanjiEdit

    僕

    (common “Jōyō” kanji)

    1. I (masculine speech)
    2. manservant

    ReadingsEdit

    CompoundsEdit

    Derived terms

    Etymology 1Edit

    Kanji in this term
    僕
    ぼく
    Grade: S
    goon

    Shift in reading to use the on'yomi, becoming prevalent from around the Meiji period.[1][2]

    PronunciationEdit

    NounEdit

    僕(ぼく) • (boku) 

    1. manservant, servant
      Synonyms: 下僕 (geboku), 下男 (genan), (see below) 僕 (shimobe)

    PronounEdit

    僕(ぼく) • (boku) 

    1. (men's speech) I; me (personal pronoun; usually used by males; implies that the speaker is a young boy or otherwise boyish)
    2. you, he, she (only used in reference to a person who uses this term to refer to themselves, or is one who is assumed to use it, such as a young boy)
      僕(ぼく)、迷(まい)子(ご)かな？
      Boku, maigo kana?
      Hi boy, are you lost?
      僕(ぼく)はいくつかな？
      Boku wa ikutsu kana?
      How old are you?

    Usage notesEdit

    • If used by an adult male, semi-formal; in formal conversation 私 (watashi) is preferred.

    See alsoEdit

    Japanese first-person pronouns

    Japanese first-person pronouns by speakers and situations according to Yuko Saegusa, Concerning the First Personal Pronoun of Native Japanese Speakers (2009)

    First-person pronouns by elementary school pupils (2008)
    Speaker Situation 1 2 3
    Female To friends うち 49% First name 26% あたし 15%
    In the family First name 33% あたし 29% うち 23%
    In a class わたし 86% あたし 7% うち 6%
    To an unknown visitor わたし 75% あたし, first name, うち 8% each
    To the class teacher わたし 66% First name 13% あたし 9%
    Male To friends おれ 72% ぼく 19% First name 4%
    In the family おれ 62% ぼく 23% うち 6%
    In a class ぼく 85% おれ 13% First name, nickname 1% each
    To an unknown visitor ぼく 64% おれ 26% First name 4%
    To the class teacher ぼく 67% おれ 27% First name 3%
    First-person pronouns by university students (2009)
    Speaker Situation 1 2 3
    Female To friends うち 39% あたし 30% わたし 22%
    In the family あたし 28% First name 27% うち 18%
    In a class わたし 89% あたし 7% 自分 3%
    To an unknown visitor わたし 81% あたし 10% 自分 6%
    To the class teacher わたし 77% あたし 17% 自分 7%
    Male To friends おれ 87% うち 4% わたし, 自分 2% each
    In the family おれ 88% ぼく, 自分 5% each
    In a class わたし 48% 自分 28% ぼく 22%
    To an unknown visitor ぼく 36% 自分 29% わたし 22%
    To the class teacher 自分 38% ぼく 29% わたし 22%

    Etymology 2Edit

    Kanji in this term
    僕
    しもべ
    Grade: S
    kun’yomi

    Originally a compound of 下 (shimo, “lower”) +‎ 部 (be, “servant to the imperial court”).[1][2]

    Alternative formsEdit

    PronunciationEdit

    NounEdit

    僕(しもべ) • (shimobe) 

    1. manservant, servant
      忠実(ちゅうじつ)な僕(しもべ)
      chūjitsu na shimobe
      a faithful servant
      Synonyms: 下僕 (geboku), 下男 (genan), (see above) 僕 (boku)
    2. a man of low social status
    3. a low-ranking civil servant

    Etymology 3Edit

    Kanji in this term
    僕
    やつがれ
    Grade: S
    kun’yomi
    For pronunciation and definitions of 僕 – see the following entry.
    【やつがれ】
    [pronoun] (humble, men's speech, somewhat dated) I, me
    (This term, 僕, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)

    ReferencesEdit

    1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
    2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
    3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, →ISBN

    KoreanEdit

    HanjaEdit

    僕 (eum 복 (bok))

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

    VietnameseEdit

    Han characterEdit

    僕: Hán Nôm readings: bộc, bọc

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

    ReferencesEdit

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