獅

See also: 狮

獅 U+7345, 獅 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-7345 ← 獄 [U+7344] CJK Unified Ideographs 獆 → [U+7346]

Translingual

Han character

獅 (radical 94, 犬+10, 13 strokes, cangjie input 大竹竹口月 (KHHRB), four-corner 4122₇, composition ⿰犭師)

References

• KangXi: page 717, character 10
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 20609
• Dae Jaweon: page 1128, character 25
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 2, page 1363, character 4
• Unihan data for U+7345

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Chinese

trad.		獅
simp.		狮
variant forms		師／师

Glyph origin

Characters in the same phonetic series (師) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
	Old Chinese
篩	*sreːl, *srel, *sri
師	*sri
鰤	*sri
蒒	*sri
獅	*sri
螄	*sri

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *sri): semantic 犬 (“dog”) + phonetic 師 (OC *sri).

Etymology

First mentioned in the Book of Han [1st century CE], in the description of the "specialties" from the 烏弋山離 (OC *ʔˤa lək srar raj, “Alexandria”) country in the Western Regions. The country referred to is likely "Alexandria Prophthasia", which was part of the Parthian Empire during the time of Han, speaking an Indo-Iranian language.

Compare Middle Persian šgl (šagr, šēr, “lion; (astronomy) Leo”), Khotanese sarau (“lion”). Related to 狻猊 (OC *sloːn ŋeː).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): shī (shi¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄕ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): si¹
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): sṳ̂
• Min Bei (KCR): sú
• Min Dong (BUC): săi
• Min Nan

  (Hokkien, POJ): sai / su / sir

  (Teochew, Peng'im): sai¹

• Wu (Wiktionary): sr (T1)

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Pinyin: shī
    • Zhuyin: ㄕ
    • Wade–Giles: shih¹
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shy
    • Tongyong Pinyin: shih
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʂʐ̩⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: si¹
    • Yale: sī
    • Cantonese Pinyin: si¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: xi¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /siː⁵⁵/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: sṳ̂
    • Hakka Romanization System: sii´
    • Hagfa Pinyim: si¹
    • Sinological IPA: /sɨ²⁴/
• Min Bei
  • (Jian'ou)
    • Kienning Colloquial Romanized: sú
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /su⁵⁴/
• Min Dong
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: săi
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sai⁵⁵/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: sai
    • Tâi-lô: sai
    • Phofsit Daibuun: say
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /saɪ³³/
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Taipei, Kaohsiung): /saɪ⁴⁴/
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: su
    • Tâi-lô: su
    • Phofsit Daibuun: sw
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Taipei, Kaohsiung): /su⁴⁴/
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: sir
    • Tâi-lô: sir
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /sɯ³³/

Note:

• su/sir - literary;
• sai - vernacular.

• (Teochew)
  • Peng'im: sai¹
  • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: sai
  • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sai³³/

Wu

• (Shanghainese)
  • Wiktionary: sr (T1)
  • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sz̩⁵³/

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• Dialectal data▼

Variety	Location	edit 獅
Mandarin	Beijing	/ʂʐ̩⁵⁵/
	Harbin	/ʂʐ̩⁴⁴/
	Tianjin	/sz̩²¹/
	Jinan	/ʂʐ̩²¹³/
	Qingdao	/ʂʐ̩²¹³/
	Zhengzhou	/ʂʐ̩²⁴/
	Xi'an	/sz̩²¹/
	Xining	/sz̩⁴⁴/
	Yinchuan	/ʂʐ̩⁴⁴/
	Lanzhou	/ʂʐ̩³¹/
	Ürümqi	/sz̩⁴⁴/
	Wuhan	/sz̩⁵⁵/
	Chengdu	/sz̩⁵⁵/
	Guiyang	/sz̩⁵⁵/
	Kunming	/sz̩⁴⁴/
	Nanjing	/sz̩³¹/
	Hefei	/sz̩²¹/
Jin	Taiyuan	/sz̩¹¹/
	Pingyao	/sz̩¹³/
	Hohhot	/sz̩³¹/
Wu	Shanghai	/sz̩⁵³/
	Suzhou	/sz̩⁵⁵/
	Hangzhou	/sz̩³³/
	Wenzhou	/sz̩³³/
Hui	Shexian	/sz̩³¹/
	Tunxi	/sz̩¹¹/
Xiang	Changsha	/sz̩³³/
	Xiangtan	/sz̩³³/
Gan	Nanchang	/sz̩⁴²/
Hakka	Meixian	/sz̩⁴⁴/
	Taoyuan	/sï²⁴/
Cantonese	Guangzhou	/si⁵³/
	Nanning	/sz̩⁵⁵/
	Hong Kong	/si⁵⁵/
Min	Xiamen (Min Nan)	/su⁵⁵/ /sai⁵⁵/
	Fuzhou (Min Dong)	/sai⁴⁴/
	Jian'ou (Min Bei)	/su⁵⁴/
	Shantou (Min Nan)	/sai³³/
	Haikou (Min Nan)	/si²³/

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• Middle Chinese: /ʃˠiɪ/▼

Rime
Character	獅
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	生 (21)
Final (韻)	脂 (17)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	Chongniu III
Fanqie	疏夷切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ʃˠiɪ/
Pan Wuyun	/ʃᵚi/
Shao Rongfen	/ʃiɪ/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ʂji/
Li Rong	/ʃji/
Wang Li	/ʃi/
Bernard Karlgren	/ʂi/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	shī

• Old Chinese▼

  (Zhengzhang): /*sri/

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	獅
Reading #	1/1
No.	11437
Phonetic component	師
Rime group	脂
Rime subdivision	2
Corresponding MC rime	師
Old Chinese	/*sri/
Notes	古作師

Definitions

獅

1. lion
2. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) (architecture) Short for 石獅／石狮 (shíshī, “foo dog”).

Synonyms

Compounds

• 人中獅子／人中狮子
• 小獅座／小狮座 (Xiǎoshīzuò)
• 河東獅吼／河东狮吼 (hédōng-shīhǒu)
• 河東獅子／河东狮子 (hédōngshīzi)
• 海獅／海狮 (hǎishī)
• 獅南／狮南 (Shīnán)
• 獅城／狮城 (Shīchéng)
• 獅子／狮子 (shīzi)
• 獅子口／狮子口 (Shīzikǒu)

• 獅子吼／狮子吼
• 獅子山／狮子山 (Shīzǐshān)
• 獅子座／狮子座 (Shīzizuò)
• 獅子搏兔／狮子搏兔
• 獅子會／狮子会
• 獅子狗／狮子狗 (shīzigǒu)
• 獅子頭／狮子头 (shīzitóu)
• 獅潭／狮潭 (Shītán)
• 獅舞／狮舞

• 獅蠻／狮蛮 (shīmán)
• 獅鷲／狮鹫 (shījiù)
• 珞獅路／珞狮路 (Luòshīlù)
• 睡獅／睡狮
• 石獅子／石狮子 (shíshīzi)
• 舞獅／舞狮 (wǔshī)
• 蟻獅／蚁狮
• 雌獅／雌狮
• 風獅爺／风狮爷

References

• “Entry #9751”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (in Chinese and Min Nan), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2011.

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Japanese

Kanji

獅

(“Jinmeiyō” kanji used for names)

1. a lion

Readings

• Go-on: し (shi)
• Kan-on: し (shi)

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 獅 (MC ʃˠiɪ).

Pronunciation

• On’yomi: Goon
  • IPA^(key): [ɕi]

Noun

獅 (hiragana し, rōmaji shi)

1. lion

Usage notes

Very rarely used on its own. The shishi reading is almost always spelled as 獅子.

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Korean

Hanja

獅 • (sa) (hangeul 사, revised sa, McCune–Reischauer sa, Yale sa)

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

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Vietnamese

Han character

獅 (sư)

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

Readings

• Nôm: sư

References

• Thiều Chửu : Hán Việt Tự Điển Hà Nội 1942
• Trần Văn Chánh: Từ Điển Hán Việt NXB Trẻ, Ho Chi Minh Ville, 1999
• Vũ Văn Kính: Đại Tự Điển Chữ Nôm, NXB Văn Nghệ, Ho Chi Minh Ville, 1999