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Definition 2025

僕

僕

僕 U+50D5, 僕
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-50D5
← 僔
[U+50D4] 		CJK Unified Ideographs 僖 →
[U+50D6]
See also: 仆

Translingual

Shinjitai 僕
Simplified 仆
Traditional 僕

Han character

僕 (radical 9 人+12, 14 strokes, cangjie input 人廿金人 (OTCO), four-corner 22234, composition ⿰亻菐)

Derived terms

References

  • KangXi: page 116, character 18
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 1094
  • Dae Jaweon: page 247, character 30
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 218, character 9
  • Unihan data for U+50D5

Chinese

trad. 僕
simp. 仆
alt. forms 㒒

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 僕
Oracle bone script

j05000
Bronze inscriptions

b03327

b03328

b03329

b03330

b03331

b03332

b03333

b03334

b03335

b03336

b03337
Large seal script

L37363

L37364

L37365

L37366

L37367

L37368

L37369

L37370

L25033

L25034

L25035

L25036

L25037

L25038

L25039

L25040

L25041

L25042
Small seal script

s01961

s01962
References:

Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation),
which in turn draws data from various collections of ancient forms of Chinese characters, including:

  • Shuowen Jiezi (small seal),
  • Jinwen Bian (bronze inscriptions),
  • Liushutong (large seal) and
  • Xu Jiaguwen Bian (oracle bone script).
Characters in the same phonetic series (菐) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
樸 *baː, *pʰroːɡ, *poːɡ, *boːɡ
璞 *pʰroːɡ
墣 *pʰroːɡ, *pʰoːɡ
撲 *broːɡ, *pʰoːɡ
轐 *poːɡ, *buːɡ
獛 *poːɡ
蹼 *poːɡ
襆 *poːɡ, *boɡ
濮 *poːɡ
纀 *poːɡ
醭 *pʰoːɡ
僕 *boːɡ, *buːɡ
菐 *boːɡ, *puɡ
穙 *boːɡ
鏷 *buːɡ
幞 *boɡ

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *boːɡ, *buːɡ) : semantic 亻 ‎(“man”) + phonetic 菐 ‎(OC *boːɡ, *puɡ).

Pronunciation

  • Dialectal data▼
Variety Location 僕
Mandarin Beijing /pʰu³⁵/
Harbin /pʰu²¹³/
Tianjin /pʰu⁴⁵/
Jinan /pʰu⁵⁵/
Qingdao /pʰu⁵⁵/
Zhengzhou /pʰu⁵³/
Xi'an /pʰu²⁴/
Xining /pʰv̩²⁴/
Yinchuan /pʰu⁵³/
Lanzhou /pʰu⁵³/
Ürümqi /pʰu⁵¹/
Wuhan /pʰu²¹³/
Chengdu /pʰu³¹/
Guiyang /pʰu²¹/
Kunming /pʰu³¹/
Nanjing /pʰuʔ⁵/
Hefei /pʰəʔ⁵/
Jin Taiyuan /pʰaʔ²/
Pingyao
Hohhot /pʰaʔ⁴³/
Wu Shanghai /pʰoʔ⁵/ ～倒
/boʔ¹/ ～人
Suzhou /boʔ³/
Hangzhou /boʔ²/
Wenzhou /bo²¹³/
Hui Shexian /pʰɔʔ²¹/
Tunxi /pʰu⁵/
Xiang Changsha /pʰu²⁴/
Xiangtan /pʰu²⁴/
Gan Nanchang
Hakka Meixian /pʰuk̚⁵/
Taoyuan /pʰuk̚²²/
Cantonese Guangzhou /pok̚²/ ～人
/pʰok̚⁵/ ～低
Nanning /pʰuk̚²²/
Hong Kong /pok̚²/ ～人
/pʰok̚⁵/ ～低
Min Xiamen (Min Nan) /pʰɔk̚⁵/
Fuzhou (Min Dong) /puʔ⁵/
Jian'ou (Min Bei) /pʰu²⁴/
Shantou (Min Nan) /pʰok̚²/
Haikou (Min Nan) /ʔbok̚³/
Rime
Character 僕 僕
Reading # 1/2 2/2
Initial (聲) 並 (3) 並 (3)
Final (韻) 屋 (3) 沃 (6)
Tone (調) Checked (Ø) Checked (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open Open
Division (等) I I
Fanqie 蒲木切 蒲沃切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /buk̚/ /buok̚/
Pan
Wuyun		 /buk̚/ /buok̚/
Shao
Rongfen		 /buk̚/ /bok̚/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /bəwk̚/ /bawk̚/
Li
Rong		 /buk̚/ /bok̚/
Wang
Li		 /buk̚/ /buok̚/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /bʱuk̚/ /bʱuok̚/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 bú bú
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 僕
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 pú
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ buwk ›
Old
Chinese		 /*[b]ˤok/
English charioteer, servant

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 僕 僕
Reading # 1/2 2/2
No. 9895 9899
Phonetic
component		 菐 菐
Rime
group		 屋 覺
Rime
subdivision		 0 1
Corresponding
MC rime		 暴 僕
Old
Chinese		 /*boːɡ/ /*buːɡ/

Definitions

僕

  1. slave, servant
    僕人 / 仆人  ―  pūrén  ―  servant

Compounds

  • 主僕／主仆
  • 僕人／仆人 (púrén)
  • 僕使／仆使
  • 僕僕／仆仆
  • 僕僕風塵／仆仆风尘
  • 僕僮成群／仆僮成群
  • 僕吏／仆吏
  • 僕固懷恩／仆固怀恩
  • 僕夫／仆夫
  • 僕姑／仆姑
  • 僕婦／仆妇
  • 奴僕／奴仆 (núpú)
  • 婢僕／婢仆
  • 家僕／家仆 (jiāpú)
  • 更僕難數／更仆难数
  • 狼僕／狼仆
  • 童僕／童仆
  • 老僕／老仆 (lǎopú)
  • 金僕姑／金仆姑
  • 隸僕／隶仆
  • 風塵僕僕／风尘仆仆

Japanese

Kanji

僕

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

  1. I (male)
  2. manservant

Readings

Compounds

Pronunciation 1

Kanji in this term
僕
ぼく
Grade: S
on'yomi

Pronoun

僕 ‎(hiragana ぼく, katakana ボク, romaji boku)

  1. I; me (personal pronoun; usually by male)
    • 1997 August 12, Takeshi Maekawa, “未み知ちなる大だい地ちへの巻まき [The Trek to a Faraway Land]”, in 新しん鉄てっ拳けんチンミ [New Ironfist Chinmi], volume 1 (fiction, in Japanese), Tokyo: Kodansha, ISBN 4-06-333585-2, page 32:
      ぼく？ぼくは南 (なん)高 (こう)山 (ざん)大 (だい)林 (りん)寺 (じ)からちょっとした用 (よう)で…
      Boku? Boku wa Nankō-zan Dairin-ji kara chottoshita yō de…
      Me? I was sent by the Dairin Temple in Mount Nankō…
  2. you; he; she (when the person to which this refers uses this term to refer to themselves, or is one who is assumed to use it, such as a young boy)

Usage notes

If used by an adult male, semi-formal; in formal conversation 私 is preferred.

See also

Pronunciation 2

Kanji in this term
僕
しもべ
Grade: S
kun'yomi

Noun

僕 ‎(hiragana しもべ, romaji shimobe)

  1. manservant; servant
    忠実な僕‎
    A faithful servant
Synonymes

Korean

Hanja

僕 • ‎(bok) (hangeul 복)

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

Vietnamese

Han character

僕 (bộc, bọc)

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

References

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