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Definition 2025

秀

秀

Translingual

Han character

秀 (radical 115 禾+2, 7 strokes, cangjie input 竹木弓竹尸 (HDNHS), four-corner 20227, composition ⿱禾乃)

Derived characters

References

  • KangXi: page 849, character 3
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 24911
  • Dae Jaweon: page 1270, character 16
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 4, page 2589, character 4
  • Unihan data for U+79C0

Chinese

simp. and trad.
 秀
Barley ear.

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 秀
Bamboo and silk script Large seal script Small seal script
Characters in the same phonetic series (秀) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
透 *l̥ʰoːs, *hljuɡ
莠 *luʔ
誘 *luʔ
蜏 *luʔ, *slus, *lus
琇 *luʔ, *slus
秀 *slus
銹 *slus

Pictogram (象形) : 禾 ‎(“plant”) + 乃, resembling a fruit/an ear hanging off a plant.

Etymology

May be a causative of 褎 (OC *ljɯws, *lɯws, “growth of seedlings”). Compare Proto-Vietic *m-loh ‎(“to blossom”) (whence Vietnamese trổ ‎(“to burst, to open, to display”), lổ ‎(“naked”)), and Khmer លាស់ ‎(léas, “to grow, to blossom, to prosper”).

The meaning of “show” [noun] is a phono-semantic matching of English show.

Pronunciation

Rime
Character 秀
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 心 (16)
Final (韻) 尤 (136)
Tone (調) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) III
Fanqie 息救切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /sɨuH/
Pan
Wuyun		 /siuH/
Shao
Rongfen		 /siəuH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /suwH/
Li
Rong		 /siuH/
Wang
Li		 /sĭəuH/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /si̯ə̯uH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 xiù
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 秀
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 xiù
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ sjuwH ›
Old
Chinese		 /*[s-l]u(ʔ)-s/
English to flower

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 秀
Reading # 1/1
No. 13934
Phonetic
component		 秀
Rime
group		 幽
Rime
subdivision		 1
Corresponding
MC rime		 秀
Old
Chinese		 /*slus/

Definitions

秀

  1. †(of plants) to shoot out into ears; earing; ear
    秀而不實 / 秀而不实  ―  xiùérbùshí  ―  to put forth flowers but bear no fruit
  2. †(of plants) to bear fruit
  3. †(of plants) to blossom
  4. beautiful; elegant; graceful
    秀麗 / 秀丽  ―  xiùlì  ―  pretty
    秀美  ―  xiùměi  ―  elegant
    眉清目秀  ―  méiqīngmùxiù  ―  with delicate features
  5. to manifest; to show; to display
    秀出  ―  xiùchū  ―  to show
  6. (especially of a person) outstanding; prominent; extraordinary
    優秀 / 优秀  ―  yōuxiù  ―  excellent
    俊秀  ―  jùnxiù  ―  elegant; pretty
  7. (loanword) a show
    脫口秀 / 脱口秀  ―  tuōkǒuxiù  ―  talk show
    時裝秀 / 时装秀  ―  shízhuāngxiù  ―  fashion show

Synonyms

  • (a show): (Cantonese) 騷／骚 (sou1)

Compounds

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (秀):

Japanese

Kanji

秀

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

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Readings

Kanji in this term
秀
しゅう
Grade: S
on'yomi

Proper noun

秀 ‎(hiragana しゅう, romaji Shū)

  1. A male given name

Korean

Hanja

秀 • ‎(su) (hangeul 수, revised su, McCune-Reischauer su, Yale swu)

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Vietnamese

Han character

秀 (tú, vân)

  1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

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