秀

TranslingualEdit

Han characterEdit

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

Derived charactersEdit

誘 (诱), 透

ReferencesEdit

KangXi: 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

ChineseEdit

trad.		秀
simp. ^#		秀
alternative forms		𥝙𥝠

Barley ear.

Glyph originEdit

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): 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 1Edit

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”).

PronunciationEdit

Mandarin
(Pinyin): xiù (xiu⁴)

(Zhuyin): ㄒㄧㄡˋ
Cantonese (Jyutping): sau³
Hakka (Sixian, PFS): siu
Min Dong (BUC): séu
Min Nan
(Hokkien, POJ): siù

(Teochew, Peng'im): siu³
Wu (Wiktionary): ²xieu

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): /ɕjoʊ̯⁵¹/
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 Meinong)
  - Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: siu
  - Hakka Romanization System: xiu
  - Hagfa Pinyim: xiu⁴
  - Sinological IPA: /ɕi̯u⁵⁵/
Min Dong
- (Fuzhou)
  - Bàng-uâ-cê: séu
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /siɛu²¹³/
Min Nan
- (Hokkien)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: siù
  - Tâi-lô: siù
  - Phofsit Daibuun: siux
  - IPA (Xiamen): /ɕiu²¹/
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /ɕiu⁴¹/
  - IPA (Zhangzhou): /ɕiu²¹/
  - IPA (Taipei): /ɕiu¹¹/
  - IPA (Kaohsiung): /ɕiu²¹/
- (Teochew)
  - Peng'im: siu³
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: siù
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /siu²¹³/
Wu
- (Shanghainese)
  - Wiktionary: ²xieu
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɕiɜ³⁴/

Middle Chinese: /sɨu^H/

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
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/
Bernard 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/

DefinitionsEdit

秀

^† (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.
^† (of plants) to bear fruit
^† (of plants) to blossom
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