僕
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Translingual
| Japanese | 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)
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* | |
| variant forms | 㒒 | |
Glyph origin
| Historical forms of the character 僕 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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References: Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation),
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| 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 |
In the oracle bone script and the early Western Zhou bronze script, it was a pictogram (象形) of a slave or prisoner, with hands holding a basket (其) to pick up garbage, an instrument of punishment (辛) above the head, and a tail (尾) to represent the slave's low status, akin to animals.
其 later corrupts into 甾, the hands (廾) move below 辛, and the slave's body (人) moves to become the left component. Later, 辛 corrupts into 丵 (probably by fusing with 甾) and combines with 廾 to give 菐 (OC *boːɡ, *puɡ), which functions as a phonetic component.
In the current form, it is essentially a phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *boːɡ, *buːɡ) : semantic 人 (“man”) + phonetic 菐 (OC *boːɡ, *puɡ).
Etymology
Probably related to Tibetan བུ (bu, “son; boy”) (Coblin, 1986).
Alternatively, Peiros and Starostin (1996) compare it to Tibetan ཕྲུག (phrug, “child”).
Pronunciation
Definitions
僕
- servant; slave (often male)
- † charioteer
- (literary, humble, men's speech) I; me; your humble servant
- † to attach; to adhere
- 君子萬年，景命有僕。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
- From: The Classic of Poetry, circa 11th – 7th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version
- Jūnzǐ wàn nián, jǐngmìng yǒu pú. [Pinyin]
- Yea for ten thousand years,
The bright appointment is attached to your person.
君子万年，景命有仆。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
- A surname.
Coordinate terms
- (slave): (female) 婢 (bì)
Compounds
Japanese
Compounds
Etymology 1
| Kanji in this term |
|---|
| 僕 |
| ぼく Grade: S |
| goon |
Shift in reading to use the on'yomi, becoming prevalent from around the Meiji period.[1][2]
Pronunciation
Noun
- manservant, servant
- Synonyms: 下僕 (geboku), 下男 (genan), 僕 (shimobe) (see below)
Pronoun
僕 (hiragana ぼく, katakana ボク, rōmaji boku)
- (men's speech) I; me (personal pronoun; usually used by males)
- 1997 August 12, Maekawa, Takeshi, “
未 知 なる大 地 への巻 [To the Strange Land]”, in新 鉄 拳 チンミ [New Ironfist Chinmi], volume 1 (fiction), Tokyo: Kodansha, →ISBN, page 32:- ぼく？ぼくは南高山大林寺からちょっとした用で…
- Boku? Boku wa Nankō-zan Dairin-ji kara chotto shita yō de…
- Me? I was sent by the Dairin Temple on Mount Nankō...
- ぼく？ぼくは南高山大林寺からちょっとした用で…
- 2003 September 22, Uraku, Akinobu, “
第 61話 愛 しきものの為 に [Chapter 61: All for Our Loved Ones]”, in東 京 アンダーグラウンド [Tokyo Underground], volume 11 (fiction), Square Enix, →ISBN, page 48:- 昔の僕とは違う
- Mukashi no boku to wa chigau
- I am not what I used to be.
- 昔の僕とは違う
- Yamazaki, Kore, “第1篇 April showers bring May flowers. [Composition 1: April showers bring May flowers.]”, in
魔法使いの嫁 [The Ancient Magus’ Bride], volume 1 (fiction), Tokyo: Mag Garden, page 20:君 を魔法使い の弟 子 として歓 迎 するよ死の愛し仔 …いや チセ- Kimi o boku no deshi to shite kangei suru yo Surei Bega… iya Chise
- You are welcome as my apprentice, Sleigh Beggey... I mean, Chise.
-
- you, he, she (only used in reference to a person who uses this term to refer to themselves, or is one who is assumed to use it, such as a young boy)
Usage notes
See also
Japanese first-person pronouns by speakers and situations according to Yuko Saegusa, Concerning the First Personal Pronoun of Native Japanese Speakers (2009)
| Speaker | Situation | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Female | To friends | うち 49% | First name 26% | あたし 15% |
| In the family | First name 33% | あたし 29% | うち 23% | |
| In a class | わたし 86% | あたし 7% | うち 6% | |
| To an unknown visitor | わたし 75% | あたし, first name, うち 8% each | ||
| To the class teacher | わたし 66% | First name 13% | あたし 9% | |
| Male | To friends | おれ 72% | ぼく 19% | First name 4% |
| In the family | おれ 62% | ぼく 23% | うち 6% | |
| In a class | ぼく 85% | おれ 13% | First name, nickname 1% each | |
| To an unknown visitor | ぼく 64% | おれ 26% | First name 4% | |
| To the class teacher | ぼく 67% | おれ 27% | First name 3% | |
| Speaker | Situation | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Female | To friends | うち 39% | あたし 30% | わたし 22% |
| In the family | あたし 28% | First name 27% | うち 18% | |
| In a class | わたし 89% | あたし 7% | 自分 3% | |
| To an unknown visitor | わたし 81% | あたし 10% | 自分 6% | |
| To the class teacher | わたし 77% | あたし 17% | 自分 7% | |
| Male | To friends | おれ 87% | うち 4% | わたし, 自分 2% each |
| In the family | おれ 88% | ぼく, 自分 5% each | ||
| In a class | わたし 48% | 自分 28% | ぼく 22% | |
| To an unknown visitor | ぼく 36% | 自分 29% | わたし 22% | |
| To the class teacher | 自分 38% | ぼく 29% | わたし 22% | |
Etymology 2
| Kanji in this term |
|---|
| 僕 |
| しもべ Grade: S |
| kun’yomi |
Originally a compound of 下 (shimo, “lower”) + 部 (be, “servant to the imperial court”).[1][2]
Pronunciation
Alternative forms
Noun
僕 (hiragana しもべ, rōmaji shimobe)
- manservant, servant
- 忠実な僕
- chūjitsu na shimobe
- a faithful servant
- Synonyms: 下僕 (geboku), 下男 (genan), 僕 (boku) (see above)
- 忠実な僕
- a man of low social status
- a low-ranking civil servant
Korean
Hanja
僕 (eum 복 (bok))
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Vietnamese
Han character
- This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text
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