匹夫之勇

Chinese edit

	ordinary man; the common people; the masses ordinary man; the common people; the masses; ordinary citizens	's; him/her/it; this	brave
trad. (匹夫之勇)	匹夫	之	勇
simp. ^#(匹夫之勇)	匹夫	之	勇
Literally: “the courage of the ordinary man”.

Etymology edit

From Mencius (《孟子·梁惠王下》):

對曰：「王請無好小勇。夫撫劍疾視曰：『彼惡敢當我哉！』此匹夫之勇，敵一人者也。王請大之！ [Classical Chinese, trad.]

对曰：「王请无好小勇。夫抚剑疾视曰：『彼恶敢当我哉！』此匹夫之勇，敌一人者也。王请大之！ [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: Mencius, c. 4^th century BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

Duì yuē: “Wáng qǐng wú hǎo xiǎo yǒng. Fú fǔjiàn jíshì yuē: ‘Bǐ wū gǎn dāng wǒ zāi!’ Cǐ pǐfū zhī yǒng, dí yīrén zhě yě. Wáng qǐng dà zhī! [Pinyin]

"I beg your Majesty," was the reply, "not to love small valour. If a man brandishes his sword, looks fiercely, and says, 'How dare he withstand me?' - this is the valour of a common man, who can be the opponent only of a single individual. I beg your Majesty to greaten it."

Pronunciation edit

Mandarin
(Pinyin): pǐfūzhīyǒng

(Zhuyin): ㄆㄧˇ ㄈㄨㄓㄩㄥˇ
Cantonese (Jyutping): pat¹ fu¹ zi¹ jung⁵

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: pǐfūzhīyǒng
  - Zhuyin: ㄆㄧˇ ㄈㄨㄓㄩㄥˇ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: pǐfujhihyǒng
  - Wade–Giles: pʻi³-fu¹-chih¹-yung³
  - Yale: pǐ-fū-jr̄-yǔng
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: piifujyyeong
  - Palladius: пифучжиюн (pifučžijun)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /pʰi²¹⁴⁻²¹ fu⁵⁵ ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵ jʊŋ²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: pat¹ fu¹ zi¹ jung⁵
  - Yale: pāt fū jī yúhng
  - Cantonese Pinyin: pat⁷ fu¹ dzi¹ jung⁵
  - Guangdong Romanization: ped¹ fu¹ ji¹ yung⁵
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /pʰɐt̚⁵ fuː⁵⁵ t͡siː⁵⁵ jʊŋ¹³/

Middle Chinese: phjit pju tsyi yowngX

Rime
Character	匹	夫	之	勇
Reading #	1/1	2/2	1/1	1/1
Initial (聲)	滂 (2)	幫 (1)	章 (23)	以 (36)
Final (韻)	眞 (48)	虞 (24)	之 (19)	鍾 (7)
Tone (調)	Checked (Ø)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)	Rising (X)
Openness (開合)	Open	Closed	Open	Open
Division (等)	III	III	III	III
Fanqie	譬吉切	甫無切	止而切	余隴切
Baxter	phjit	pju	tsyi	yowngX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/pʰiɪt̚/	/pɨo/	/t͡ɕɨ/	/jɨoŋ^X/
Pan Wuyun	/pʰit̚/	/pio/	/t͡ɕɨ/	/jioŋ^X/
Shao Rongfen	/pʰjet̚/	/pio/	/t͡ɕie/	/ioŋ^X/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/pʰit̚/	/puə̆/	/cɨ/	/juawŋ^X/
Li Rong	/pʰiĕt̚/	/pio/	/t͡ɕiə/	/ioŋ^X/
Wang Li	/pʰĭĕt̚/	/pĭu/	/t͡ɕĭə/	/jĭwoŋ^X/
Bernard Karlgren	/pʰi̯ĕt̚/	/pi̯u/	/t͡ɕi/	/i̯woŋ^X/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	pi	fū	zhī	yǒng
Expected Cantonese Reflex	pat¹	fu¹	zi¹	jung⁵

Old Chinese
(Baxter–Sagart): /*pʰi[t] p(r)a tə loŋʔ/

(Zhengzhang): /*pʰid pa tjɯ loŋʔ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	匹	夫	之	之	勇
Reading #	1/1	1/3	1/2	2/2	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	pǐ	fū	zhī	zhī	yǒng
Middle Chinese	‹ phjit ›	‹ pju ›	‹ tsyi ›	‹ tsyi ›	‹ yowng^X ›
Old Chinese	/*pʰi[t]/	/*p(r)a/	/*tə/	/*tə/	/*loŋʔ/
English	one of a pair	man	go to	(3p object pronoun; attributive particle)	brave
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	匹	夫	之	勇
Reading #	1/1	1/2	1/1	1/1
No.	9737	3274	17188	15449
Phonetic component	匹	夫	之	用
Rime group	質	魚	之	東
Rime subdivision	1	0	0	0
Corresponding MC rime	匹	跗	之	勇
Old Chinese	/*pʰid/	/*pa/	/*tjɯ/	/*loŋʔ/

Idiom edit

匹夫之勇

foolhardiness; courage without wisdom or prudence
- 顏良，文醜，匹夫之勇，一戰可擒。 [Written Vernacular Chinese, trad.]
  颜良，文丑，匹夫之勇，一战可擒。 [Written Vernacular Chinese, simp.]
  From: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, circa 14^th century CE
  Yán Liáng, Wén Chǒu, pǐfūzhīyǒng, yīzhàn kěqín. [Pinyin]
  Yan Liang and Wen Chou have but foolhardiness. They can be handled with one battle.