僕 - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

See also: 仆

Japanese 僕
Simplified 仆
Traditional 僕
Stroke order

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

trad. 僕
simp. 仆*
alternative forms 㒒䑑仆𢖃
Historical forms of the character 僕
Oracle bone scriptj05000**Bronze inscriptionsb03327b03328b03329b03330b03331b03332b03333b03334b03335b03336b03337Small seal scripts01961s01962Transcribed ancient scripts**L37363L37364L37365L37366L37367L37368L37369L37370L25033L25034L25035L25036L25037L25038L25039L25040L25041L25042
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 (Liushutong characters) and Yinxu Jiaguwen Bian (oracle bone script).

| | 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／形声, OC *boːɡ, *buːɡ) : semantic 人 (“man”) + phonetic 菐 (OC *boːɡ, *puɡ).

Probably related to Tibetan བུ (bu, “son; boy”) (Coblin, 1986).

Alternatively, Peiros and Starostin (1996) compare it to Tibetan ཕྲུག (phrug, “child”).

Note:

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 僕
Reading # 1/1
ModernBeijing(Pinyin) pú
MiddleChinese ‹ buwk ›
OldChinese /*[b]ˁok/
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
Phoneticcomponent 菐 菐
Rimegroup 屋 覺
Rimesubdivision 0 1
CorrespondingMC rime 暴 僕
OldChinese /*boːɡ/ /*buːɡ/

僕

  1. servant; slave (often male)
    僕人／仆人 ― púrén ― servant
  2. (literary, humble, men's speech) I; me; your humble servant
  3. (obsolete) coachman; groom
  4. (obsolete) to attach; to adhere
  5. a surname

僕

(Jōyō kanji)

  1. I (masculine speech)
  2. manservant

Derived terms

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]

僕(ぼく) • (boku)

  1. manservant, servant
    Synonyms: 下僕 (geboku), 下男 (genan), (see below) 僕 (shimobe)

僕(ぼく) or 僕(ボク) • (boku)

  1. (men's speech) I; me (personal pronoun; usually used by males; implies that the speaker is a young boy or otherwise boyish)
    • 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 chotto shita yō de…
      Me? I was sent by the Dairin Temple on Mount Nankō...
    • 昔(むかし)の**僕(ぼく)**とは違(ちが)う
      Mukashi no boku to wa chigau
      I am not what I used to be.
  2. 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)
    **僕(ぼく)**、迷(まい)子(ご)かな？
    Boku, maigo kana?
    Hi boy, are you lost?
    **僕(ぼく)**はいくつかな？
    Boku wa ikutsu kana?
    How old are you?

Japanese first-person pronouns

Japanese first-person pronouns by speakers and situations according to Yuko Saegusa, Concerning the First Personal Pronoun of Native Japanese Speakers (2009)

First-person pronouns by elementary school pupils (2008)

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%

First-person pronouns by university students (2009)

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%
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]

僕(しもべ) • (shimobe)

  1. manservant, servant
    Synonyms: 下僕 (geboku), 下男 (genan), (see above) 僕 (boku)
    忠実(ちゅうじつ)な僕(しもべ)
    chūjitsu na shimobe
    a faithful servant
  2. a man of low social status
  3. a low-ranking civil servant
Kanji in this term
僕
やつがれGrade: S
kun'yomi
For pronunciation and definitions of 僕 – see the following entry.
(This term, 僕, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

僕 (eum 복 (bok))

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僕: Hán Nôm readings: bộc, bọc

  1. -servant (always in compounds, e.g. công bộc "public serviceman", "civil servant")