秀

Translingual

Han character

秀 (Kangxi radical 115, 禾+2, 7 strokes, cangjie input 竹木弓竹尸 (HDNHS), four-corner 2022₇, composition ⿱禾乃)

Derived characters

唀, 㛢, 琇, 䅎, 綉(绣), 蜏, 誘(诱), 銹(锈), 透, 䞬, 頺, 莠

Additional Derived Characters

𠉑, 𪣜, 𫵿, 𢓵, 𢭆, 𣵛, 𨹳, 𣒴, 𬊔, 𤯪, 𥏗, 𮀞, 𥙾, 𧚘, 𲊗, 𮪆, 𱆯
𣮁, 𠃯, 𮂼, 𤥹, 𥢁, 𪁮, 𥣧, 𥤃, 𨴷, 𣜗, 𦏁

References

Kangxi Dictionary: page 849, character 3
Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 24911
Dae Jaweon: page 1270, character 16
Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2589, character 4
Unihan data for U+79C0

Chinese

trad.		秀
simp. ^#		秀
alternative forms		𥝙𥝠

Barley ear.

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 秀
Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Chu slip and silk script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Characters in the same phonetic series (秀) (Zhengzhang, 2003)

	Old Chinese
透	l̥ʰoːs, hljuɡ
莠	*luʔ
誘	*luʔ
蜏	luʔ, slus, *lus
琇	luʔ, slus
秀	*slus
銹	*slus

From an earlier form 𥝙, attested in the stone drum inscriptions (石鼓文 (shígǔwén)) from the Warring States period.

According to Chi (2010), the character is an ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意): 禾 (“rice plant”) + 引 (“to draw out flowers”) — blooming of a rice plant. The Shuihudi Qin bamboo texts (睡簡) recorded this character as ⿱禾引. The bottom component 弓 found in the stone drum inscriptions is likely a reduction of 引.

Xu Kai (徐鍇), the author of 《說文解字繫傳》 (10th century AD) gave the following explanation: Pictogram (象形): 禾 (“plant”) + 乃, resembling a fruit/an ear hanging off a plant.

Shuowen states that this character was tabooed at that time (2nd century AD) and so did not elaborate on its origin, due to it being the birth name of Emperor Guangwu of Han.

Etymology 1

May be a causative of 褎 (OC *lɯws, “growth of seedlings”). Compare Proto-Vietic *m-loh (“to blossom”) (whence Vietnamese trổ (“to burst, to open, to display”), lổ (“naked”)), and Khmer លាស់ (lŏəh, “to grow, to blossom, to prosper”).

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): xiù (xiu⁴)

(Zhuyin): ㄒㄧㄡˋ
Cantonese (Jyutping): sau³
Hakka
(Sixian, PFS): siu

(Meixian, Guangdong): xiu⁴
Eastern Min (BUC): séu
Puxian Min (Pouseng Ping'ing): siu⁴
Southern Min
(Hokkien, POJ): siù

(Teochew, Peng'im): siu³
Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ⁵shieu

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: xiù
  - Zhuyin: ㄒㄧㄡˋ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: siòu
  - Wade–Giles: hsiu⁴
  - Yale: syòu
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shiow
  - Palladius: сю (sju)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɕi̯oʊ̯⁵¹/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
  - Jyutping: sau³
  - Yale: sau
  - Cantonese Pinyin: sau³
  - Guangdong Romanization: seo³
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /sɐu̯³³/
Hakka
- (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
  - Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: siu
  - Hakka Romanization System: xiu
  - Hagfa Pinyim: xiu⁴
  - Sinological IPA: /si̯u⁵⁵/
- (Meixian)
  - Guangdong: xiu⁴
  - Sinological IPA: /ɕiu⁵³/
Eastern Min
- (Fuzhou)
  - Bàng-uâ-cê: séu
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /siɛu²¹³/
Puxian Min
- (Putian, Xianyou)
  - Pouseng Ping'ing: siu⁴
  - Báⁿ-uā-ci̍: siu̍
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɬiu⁴²/
Southern Min
- (Hokkien)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: siù
  - Tâi-lô: siù
  - Phofsit Daibuun: siux
  - IPA (Xiamen): /siu²¹/
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /siu⁴¹/
  - IPA (Zhangzhou): /siu²¹/
  - IPA (Taipei): /siu¹¹/
  - IPA (Kaohsiung): /siu²¹/
- (Teochew)
  - Peng'im: siu³
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: siù
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /siu²¹³/
Wu
- (Northern: Shanghai)
  - Wugniu: ⁵shieu
  - MiniDict: shieu^去
  - Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ²xieu
  - Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /ɕiɤ³⁴/

Middle Chinese: sjuwH

Rime
Character	秀
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	心 (16)
Final (韻)	尤 (136)
Tone (調)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	III
Fanqie	息救切
Baxter	sjuwH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/sɨu^H/
Pan Wuyun	/siu^H/
Shao Rongfen	/siəu^H/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/suw^H/
Li Rong	/siu^H/
Wang Li	/sĭəu^H/
Bernhard Karlgren	/si̯ə̯u^H/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	xiù
Expected Cantonese Reflex	sau³

Old Chinese
(Baxter–Sagart): /*[s-l]u(ʔ)-s/

(Zhengzhang): /*slus/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	秀
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	xiù
Middle Chinese	‹ sjuw^H ›
Old Chinese	/*[s-l]u(ʔ)-s/
English	to flower
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	秀
Reading #	1/1
No.	13934
Phonetic component	秀
Rime group	幽
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	秀
Old Chinese	/*slus/

Definitions

秀

(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese, of plants, especially of crops) to shoot out into ears; earing; ear
秀而不實／秀而不实 ― xiù'érbùshí ― to put forth flowers but bear no fruit
- 實種實褎，實發實秀。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
  实种实褎，实发实秀。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
  From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11^th – 7^th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version
  Shí zhòng shí yòu, shí fā shí xiù. [Pinyin]
  Then he used it as seed, and it sprang up; It grew and came into ear.
(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese, of plants) to bear fruit
(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese, of plants) to blossom
- 螻蟈鳴，蚯螾出，王瓜生，苦菜秀。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, trad.]
  蝼蝈鸣，蚯螾出，王瓜生，苦菜秀。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, simp.]
  From: The Book of Rites, c. 4^th – 2^nd century BCE
  Lóuguō míng, qiūyǐn chū, wángguā shēng, kǔcài xiù. [Pinyin]
  The green frogs croak. Earthworms come forth. The royal melons grow. The sow-thistle is in seed.
beautiful; elegant; graceful
秀麗／秀丽 ― xiùlì ― pretty

秀美 ― xiùměi ― elegant

眉清目秀 ― méiqīngmùxiù ― with delicate features
(especially of a person) outstanding; prominent; extraordinary
優秀／优秀 ― yōuxiù ― excellent

俊秀 ― jùnxiù ― elegant; pretty

Compounds

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (秀):

→ Japanese: 秀(しゅ) (shu)
→ Korean: 수(秀) (su)
→ Vietnamese: tú (秀)

Etymology 2

Phono-semantic matching of English show. Doublet of 騷 / 骚 (sāo)

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): xiù (xiu⁴)

(Zhuyin): ㄒㄧㄡˋ
Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): sió

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: xiù
  - Zhuyin: ㄒㄧㄡˋ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: siòu
  - Wade–Giles: hsiu⁴
  - Yale: syòu
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shiow
  - Palladius: сю (sju)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɕi̯oʊ̯⁵¹/
Southern Min
- (Hokkien)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: sió
  - Tâi-lô: sió
  - Phofsit Daibuun: sioir
  - IPA (Xiamen): /sio⁵³/
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /sio⁵⁵⁴/
  - IPA (Zhangzhou): /sio⁵³/
  - IPA (Taipei): /sio⁵³/
  - IPA (Kaohsiung): /siɤ⁴¹/

Definitions

秀

to manifest; to show; to display
秀出 ― xiùchū ― to show
show
脫口秀／脱口秀 ― tuōkǒuxiù ― talk show

時裝秀／时装秀 ― shízhuāngxiù ― fashion show

Synonyms

(show): (Cantonese) 騷／骚 (sou1)

Compounds

References

莆田市荔城区档案馆 [Putian City Licheng District Archives], editor (2022), “秀”, in 莆仙方言文读字汇 [Puxian Dialect Literary Reading Dictionary] (overall work in Mandarin and Puxian Min), page 267.

Japanese

Kanji

秀

(Jōyō kanji)

excellent, outstanding

Readings

Kanji in this term
秀
しゅう Grade: S
on'yomi

Go-on: しゅ (shu)
Kan-on: しゅう (shū, Jōyō)^{←しう (siu, historical)}
Kun: ひいでる (hīderu, 秀でる, Jōyō)

Adjective

秀(しゅう) • (shū)

exemplary, excellent.

Proper noun

秀(しゅう) • (Shū)

a male given name

Descendants

→ English: S rank, S Tier

Korean

Hanja

秀 (eumhun 빼어날 수 (ppaeeonal su))

outstanding, remarkable, excellent

Vietnamese

Han character

秀: Hán Nôm readings: tú

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