知音

知音

Chinese

		to know; to be aware	sound; noise; news
simp. and trad. (知音)		知	音

Etymology

From the old Chinese story about the deep friendship between two men, Boya (a qin player) and Ziqi (a woodcutter). Despite Ziqi's humble background, upon hearing Boya play his qin he was surprisingly able to tell which subjects each of the pieces represented.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): zhīyīn

  (Zhuyin): ㄓ ㄧㄣ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): zi¹ jam¹
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): tî-yîm
• Min Dong (BUC): dĭ-ĭng
• Min Nan (POJ): ti-im
• Wu (Wiktionary): tsr in (T1)

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: zhīyīn
    • Zhuyin: ㄓ ㄧㄣ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: jhihyin
    • Wade–Giles: chih¹-yin¹
    • Yale: jr̄-yīn
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: jyin
    • Palladius: чжиинь (čžiinʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵ in⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: zi¹ jam¹
    • Yale: jī yām
    • Cantonese Pinyin: dzi¹ jam¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: ji¹ yem¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡siː⁵⁵ jɐm⁵⁵/
• Hakka
  • (Northern Sixian, incl. Miaoli)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: tî-yîm
    • Hakka Romanization System: di´ im´
    • Hagfa Pinyim: di¹ yim¹
    • Sinological IPA: /ti²⁴⁻¹¹ im²⁴/
  • (Southern Sixian, incl. Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: tî-yîm
    • Hakka Romanization System: di´ (r)im´
    • Hagfa Pinyim: di¹ yim¹
    • Sinological IPA: /ti²⁴⁻¹¹ (j)im²⁴/
• Min Dong
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: dĭ-ĭng
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ti⁵⁵ iŋ⁵⁵/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: ti-im
    • Tâi-lô: ti-im
    • Phofsit Daibuun: di'ym
    • IPA (Xiamen): /ti⁴⁴⁻²² im⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /ti³³ im³³/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /ti⁴⁴⁻²² im⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Taipei): /ti⁴⁴⁻³³ im⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /ti⁴⁴⁻³³ im⁴⁴/
• Wu
  • (Shanghainese)
    • Wiktionary: tsr in (T1)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sz̩⁵⁵ ɪɲ²¹/

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• Middle Chinese: /ʈiᴇ  ʔˠiɪm/

Rime
Character	知	音
Reading #	1/1	1/1
Initial (聲)	知 (9)	影 (34)
Final (韻)	支 (11)	侵 (140)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	III	III
Fanqie	陟移切	於金切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ʈiᴇ/	/ʔˠiɪm/
Pan Wuyun	/ʈiɛ/	/ʔᵚim/
Shao Rongfen	/ȶjɛ/	/ʔiem/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ʈiə̆/	/ʔjim/
Li Rong	/ȶie/	/ʔjəm/
Wang Li	/ȶǐe/	/ĭĕm/
Bernard Karlgren	/ȶie̯/	/ʔi̯əm/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	zhī	yīn
Expected Cantonese Reflex	zi1	jam1

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*tre  [q](r)əm/

  (Zhengzhang): /*ʔl'e  qrɯm/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	知	音
Reading #	1/1	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	zhī	yīn
Middle Chinese	‹ trje ›	‹ ʔim ›
Old Chinese	/*tre/	/*[q](r)əm/
English	know	sound, tone
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	知	音
Reading #	1/1	1/1
No.	11495	15223
Phonetic component	矢	音
Rime group	支	侵
Rime subdivision	0	1
Corresponding MC rime		音
Old Chinese	/*ʔl'e/	/*qrɯm/
Notes	沈兼士依韻會所引說文從口矢聲

Noun

知音

1. friend keenly appreciative of one's talents; bosom friend; intimate friend; soul mate

   覓知音／觅知音  ―  mì zhīyīn  ―  to look for one's soulmate

   知音難求／知音难求  ―  zhīyīn nán qiú  ―  it's difficult to find one's soulmate

   我終於遇到知音了。 [MSC, trad.]
   我终于遇到知音了。 [MSC, simp.]

   Wǒ zhōngyú yùdào zhīyīn le. [Pinyin]

   I finally found someone who truly understands me.

Synonyms

edit

Synonyms of 知音

友好 (yǒuhǎo) 同袍 (tóngpáo) (literary) 好友 (hǎoyǒu) 相知 (xiāngzhī) 知交 (zhījiāo) 知友 (zhīyǒu) 知己 (zhījǐ) 知心 (zhīxīn)

知心朋友 (zhīxīn péngyou) 知言 (zhīyán) (literary) 知遇 (zhīyù) (literary) 良朋 (liángpéng) (literary) 良知 (liángzhī) 高朋 (gāopéng) (literary) 執友／执友 (zhíyǒu) (literary) 齒輪 (Sichuanese)

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (知音):

• → Japanese: 知音(ちいん) (chiin)
• → Korean: 지음(知音) (jieum)
• → Vietnamese: tri âm (知音)