參商

Chinese

		ginseng; take part in; participate ginseng; take part in; participate; join; attend; to join; unequal; varied; irregular; to counsel; uneven; not uniform	commerce; consult
trad. (參商)		參	商
simp. (参商)		参	商

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): shēnshāng

  (Zhuyin): ㄕㄣ ㄕㄤ

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: shēnshāng
    • Zhuyin: ㄕㄣ ㄕㄤ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: shenshang
    • Wade–Giles: shên¹-shang¹
    • Yale: shēn-shāng
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shenshang
    • Palladius: шэньшан (šɛnʹšan)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʂən⁵⁵ ʂɑŋ⁵⁵/

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• Middle Chinese: srim syang

Rime
Character	參	商
Reading #	1/5	1/1
Initial (聲)	生 (21)	書 (26)
Final (韻)	侵 (140)	陽 (105)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	III	III
Fanqie	所今切	式羊切
Baxter	srim	syang
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ʃˠiɪm/	/ɕɨɐŋ/
Pan Wuyun	/ʃᵚim/	/ɕiɐŋ/
Shao Rongfen	/ʃiem/	/ɕiɑŋ/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ʂjim/	/ɕɨaŋ/
Li Rong	/ʃjəm/	/ɕiaŋ/
Wang Li	/ʃĭĕm/	/ɕĭaŋ/
Bernard Karlgren	/ʂi̯əm/	/ɕi̯aŋ/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	shēn	shāng
Expected Cantonese Reflex	sam1	soeng1

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*srum  s-taŋ/

  (Zhengzhang): /*srum  hljaŋ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	參	商	商	商
Reading #	4/4	1/3	2/3	3/3
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	shēn	shāng	shāng	shāng
Middle Chinese	‹ srim ›	‹ syang ›	‹ syang ›	‹ syang ›
Old Chinese	/*srum/ (should be *s.rum)	/*s-taŋ/	/*s-taŋ/	/*s-taŋ/
English	the constellation Orion’ (named for the three stars in Orion’s belt)	musical note	(place name)	estimate; business; trader
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	參	商
Reading #	5/5	1/1
No.	1108	11097
Phonetic component	參	商
Rime group	侵	陽
Rime subdivision	3	0
Corresponding MC rime	森	商
Old Chinese	/*srum/	/*hljaŋ/

Noun

參商

1. (figurative) the condition of not meeting

   • 人生不相見，動如參與商。 [Literary Chinese, trad.]
     人生不相见，动如参与商。 [Literary Chinese, simp.]

     Rénshēng bù xiāngjiàn, dòng rú shēn yǔ shāng. [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Synonyms

• 商參／商参

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (參商):

• → Korean: 삼상(參商) (samsang)