靈長

See also: 霊長 and 灵长

Chinese

		alert; departed soul; efficacious alert; departed soul; efficacious; quick; effective; intelligence	long; length; forever long; length; forever; always; constantly; chief; head; elder; to grow; to develop
trad. (靈長)		靈	長
simp. (灵长)		灵	长

Etymology

The modern sense "human/primate" is borrowed from Japanese 霊長. Literally, "having fantastic power (human intelligence), and being the best of all things". Older attestations with other different obsolete meanings also exist.

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): língzhǎng
(Zhuyin): ㄌㄧㄥˊ ㄓㄤˇ
Cantonese (Jyutping): ling⁴ zoeng²

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: língzhǎng
  - Zhuyin: ㄌㄧㄥˊ ㄓㄤˇ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: língjhǎng
  - Wade–Giles: ling²-chang³
  - Yale: líng-jǎng
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: lingjaang
  - Palladius: линчжан (linčžan)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /liŋ³⁵ ʈ͡ʂɑŋ²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
  - Jyutping: ling⁴ zoeng²
  - Yale: lìhng jéung
  - Cantonese Pinyin: ling⁴ dzoeng²
  - Guangdong Romanization: ling⁴ zêng²
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /lɪŋ²¹ t͡ʃœːŋ³⁵/

Noun

靈長

(poetic) a nickname of humans (Homo sapiens).
- 人類是一件多麼了不得的傑作！……宇宙的精華！萬物的靈長！ [MSC, trad.]
  人类是一件多么了不得的杰作！……宇宙的精华！万物的灵长！ [MSC, simp.]
  From: Hamlet, translated by 朱生豪, 1943
  Rénlèi shì yī jiàn duōme liǎobùdé de jiézuò!...... Yǔzhòu de jīnghuá! Wànwù de língzhǎng! [Pinyin]
  What a piece of work is a man!... the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals!
Only used in 靈長目／灵长目 (Língzhǎngmù) and 靈長類／灵长类.