窈窕淑女

窈窕淑女

Chinese

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

Etymology

窈窕淑女，君子好逑。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]

From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11^th – 7^th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

Yǎotiǎo shūnǚ, jūnzǐ hǎoqiú. [Pinyin]

The modest, retiring, virtuous, young lady:
For our prince a good mate she.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): yǎotiǎoshūnǚ, yǎotiǎoshúnǚ

  (Zhuyin): ㄧㄠˇ ㄊㄧㄠˇ ㄕㄨ ㄋㄩˇ, ㄧㄠˇ ㄊㄧㄠˇ ㄕㄨˊ ㄋㄩˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): miu⁵ tiu⁵ suk⁶ neoi⁵, jiu² tiu⁵ suk⁶ neoi⁵

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Mainland)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: yǎotiǎoshūnǚ [Phonetic: yáotiǎoshūnǚ]
    • Zhuyin: ㄧㄠˇ ㄊㄧㄠˇ ㄕㄨ ㄋㄩˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: yǎotiǎoshunyǔ
    • Wade–Giles: yao³-tʻiao³-shu¹-nü³
    • Yale: yǎu-tyǎu-shū-nyǔ
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: yeauteaushuneu
    • Palladius: яотяошунюй (jaotjaošunjuj)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻³⁵ tʰjɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹¹ ʂu⁵⁵ ny²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
      
  • (Standard Chinese, Taiwan)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: yǎotiǎoshúnǚ [Phonetic: yáotiǎoshúnǚ]
    • Zhuyin: ㄧㄠˇ ㄊㄧㄠˇ ㄕㄨˊ ㄋㄩˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: yǎotiǎoshúnyǔ
    • Wade–Giles: yao³-tʻiao³-shu²-nü³
    • Yale: yǎu-tyǎu-shú-nyǔ
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: yeauteaushwuneu
    • Palladius: яотяошунюй (jaotjaošunjuj)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻³⁵ tʰjɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹¹ ʂu³⁵ ny²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: miu⁵ tiu⁵ suk⁶ neoi⁵, jiu² tiu⁵ suk⁶ neoi⁵
    • Yale: míuh tíuh suhk néuih, yíu tíuh suhk néuih
    • Cantonese Pinyin: miu⁵ tiu⁵ suk⁹ noey⁵, jiu² tiu⁵ suk⁹ noey⁵
    • Guangdong Romanization: miu⁵ tiu⁵ sug⁶ nêu⁵, yiu² tiu⁵ sug⁶ nêu⁵
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /miːu̯¹³ tʰiːu̯¹³ sʊk̚² nɵy̯¹³/, /jiːu̯³⁵ tʰiːu̯¹³ sʊk̚² nɵy̯¹³/

---

• Middle Chinese: /ʔeu^X  deu^X  d͡ʑɨuk̚  ɳɨʌ^X/

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)	東 (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
Expected Cantonese Reflex	jiu2	diu6	suk6	neoi5

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*ʔˤ[e]wʔ  lˤ[e]wʔ  [d]iwk  nraʔ/

  (Zhengzhang): /*qiːwʔ  l'eːwʔ  ɦljɯwɢ  naʔ/

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	/*ʔˁ[e]wʔ/	/*lˁ[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/

Idiom

窈窕淑女

1. virtuous and beautiful girl

   • 因為在前邊領路的那位窈窕淑女明明很從容地就走過去了 [MSC, trad.]
     因为在前边领路的那位窈窕淑女明明很从容地就走过去了 [MSC, simp.]

     From: 1983, 蕭乾, 《海外行蹤》

     Yīnwèi zài qiánbiān lǐnglù de nàwèi yǎotiǎoshūnǚ míngmíng hěn cóngróng de jiù zǒu guoqu le [Pinyin]

     Because obviously that virtuous and beautiful girl who led the way ahead had walked past very calmly