南蠻鴃舌

Chinese

		the "Southern Barbarians", a catch-all term for the Yue and other peoples living south of the Chinese cultural sphere in Antiquity	cry of a shrike; barbarian gibberish; incomprehensible language or dialect of southern China
trad. (南蠻鴃舌)		南蠻	鴃舌
simp. (南蛮𫛞舌)		南蛮	𫛞舌

Etymology

From Mencius:

今也南蠻鴃舌之人，非先王之道，子倍子之師而學之，亦異於曾子矣。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

---

今也南蛮𫛞舌之人，非先王之道，子倍子之师而学之，亦异于曾子矣。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: Mencius, c. 4^th century BCE

Jīn yě nánmánjuéshé zhī rén, fēi xiānwáng zhī dào, zǐ bèi zǐ zhī shī ér xué zhī, yì yì yú Zēngzǐ yǐ. [Pinyin]

Now here is this shrike-tongued barbarian of the south, whose doctrines are not those of the ancient kings. You turn away from your master and become his disciple. Your conduct is different indeed from that of the philosopher Zeng.

Note that in the pre-Qin period when this term was coined, the Chinese language was not spoken in the area known as South China today. See Old Yue language.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): nánmánjuéshé

  (Zhuyin): ㄋㄢˊ ㄇㄢˊ ㄐㄩㄝˊ ㄕㄜˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): naam⁴ maan⁴ kyut³ sit³

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: nánmánjuéshé
    • Zhuyin: ㄋㄢˊ ㄇㄢˊ ㄐㄩㄝˊ ㄕㄜˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: nánmánjyuéshé
    • Wade–Giles: nan²-man²-chüeh²-shê²
    • Yale: nán-mán-jywé-shé
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: nanmanjyuesher
    • Palladius: наньманьцзюэшэ (nanʹmanʹczjuešɛ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /nän³⁵ män³⁵ t͡ɕy̯ɛ³⁵ ʂɤ³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: naam⁴ maan⁴ kyut³ sit³
    • Yale: nàahm màahn kyut sit
    • Cantonese Pinyin: naam⁴ maan⁴ kyt⁸ sit⁸
    • Guangdong Romanization: nam⁴ man⁴ küd³ xid³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /naːm²¹ maːn²¹ kʰyːt̚³ siːt̚³/

Idiom

南蠻鴃舌

1. (derogatory) to speak the language of the southern barbarians or a dialect of southern China