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Definition 2024

窈窕淑女

窈窕淑女

Chinese

quiet and elegant; graceful and fair virtuous and beautiful woman; lady
simp. and trad.
(窈窕淑女) 		窈窕 淑女

Idiom

窈窕淑女

  1. virtuous and beautiful girl
    窈窕淑女，君子好逑。 [Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]
    From: The Classic of Poetry, circa 11th – 7th centuries BCE
    Yǎotiǎo shūnǚ, jūnzǐ hǎoqiú. [Pinyin]
    The modest, retiring, virtuous, young lady:
    For our prince a good mate she.

Pronunciation

  • Mandarin
    (Pinyin): yǎotiǎo shūnǚ, yǎotiǎo shúnǚ
    (Zhuyin): ㄧㄠˇ ㄊㄧㄠˇ ㄕㄨ ㄋㄩˇ, ㄧㄠˇ ㄊㄧㄠˇ ㄕㄨˊ ㄋㄩˇ
  • Cantonese (Jyutping): miu5 tiu5 suk6 neoi5, jiu2 tiu5 suk6 neoi5
Rime
Character 窈 窕 淑 女
Reading # 1/1 1/1 1/1 1/2
Initial (聲) 影 (34) 定 (7) 常 (25) 娘 (12)
Final (韻) 蕭 (93) 蕭 (93) 屋 (4) 魚 (22)
Tone (調) Rising (X) Rising (X) Checked (Ø) Rising (X)
Openness (開合) Open Open Open Open
Division (等) IV IV III III
Fanqie 烏皎切 徒了切 殊六切 尼吕切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /ʔeuX/ /deuX/ /d͡ʑɨuk̚/ /ɳɨʌX/
Pan
Wuyun		 /ʔeuX/ /deuX/ /d͡ʑiuk̚/ /ɳiɔX/
Shao
Rongfen		 /ʔeuX/ /deuX/ /d͡ʑiuk̚/ /niɔX/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /ʔɛwX/ /dɛwX/ /d͡ʑuwk̚/ /ɳɨə̆X/
Li
Rong		 /ʔeuX/ /deuX/ /ʑiuk̚/ /niɔX/
Wang
Li		 /ieuX/ /dieuX/ /ʑĭuk̚/ /nĭoX/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /ʔieuX/ /dʱieuX/ /ʑi̯uk̚/ /ni̯woX/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 yǎo diào shú nǚ
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 窈 窕 淑 女
Reading # 1/1 1/1 1/1 1/2
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 yǎo tiǎo shū nǚ
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ ʔewX › ‹ dewX › ‹ dzyuwk › ‹ nrjoX ›
Old
Chinese		 /*ʔˤ[e]wʔ/ /*lˤ[e]wʔ/ /*[d]iwk/ /*nraʔ/
English ʔewX-dewX hidden; deep 窈窕 beautiful fine, good female

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 窈 窕 淑 女
Reading # 1/1 1/1 1/1 1/2
No. 15634 16893 11756 9616
Phonetic
component		 幼 兆 尗 女
Rime
group		 幽 宵 覺 魚
Rime
subdivision		 2 2 2 0
Corresponding
MC rime		 窕 熟
Old
Chinese		 /*qiːwʔ/ /*l'eːwʔ/ /*ɦljɯwɢ/ /*naʔ/

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