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Definition 2024

聖

聖

See also: 圣

Translingual

Han character

聖 (radical 128 耳+7, 13 strokes, cangjie input 尸口竹土 (SRHG), four-corner 16104, composition ⿱𦔻王)

References

  • KangXi: page 967, character 22
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 29074
  • Dae Jaweon: page 1415, character 28
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 4, page 2789, character 6
  • Unihan data for U+8056

Chinese

trad. 聖
simp. 圣

Glyph origin

Characters in the same phonetic series (聖) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
檉 *l̥ʰeŋ
蟶 *l̥ʰeŋ
聖 *hljeŋs
聽 *l̥ʰeːŋ, *l̥ʰeːŋs
廳 *l̥ʰeːŋ

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *hljeŋs) : semantic 耳 ‎(“ear”) + phonetic 呈 ‎(OC *rleŋ, *l'eŋs).

Pronunciation

Rime
Character 聖
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 書 (26)
Final (韻) 清 (121)
Tone (調) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) III
Fanqie 式正切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /ɕiᴇŋH/
Pan
Wuyun		 /ɕiɛŋH/
Shao
Rongfen		 /ɕiæŋH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /ɕiajŋH/
Li
Rong		 /ɕiɛŋH/
Wang
Li		 /ɕĭɛŋH/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /ɕi̯ɛŋH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 shèng
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 聖
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 shèng
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ syengH ›
Old
Chinese		 /*l̥eŋ-s/
English sage (n.)

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 聖
Reading # 1/1
No. 11391
Phonetic
component		 聖
Rime
group		 耕
Rime
subdivision		 0
Corresponding
MC rime		 聖
Old
Chinese		 /*hljeŋs/
Notes 甲金文象人張耳對口會耳聰意，非呈聲

Definitions

聖

  1. noble
  2. holy; sacred
  3. saint; sage
  4. (specifically) Confucius
  5. master; professional
  6. emperor; king
  7. (honorific) form of address for the respected
  8. (Min Dong) propitious; efficacious; favouring; (of a god) able to protect

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

聖

(grade 6 “Kyōiku” kanji)

  1. holy, sacred

Readings

Compounds

Etymology 1

Compound of 日 ‎(hi, “day, light, the sun”) +‎ 知り ‎(shiri, “knowing”). The shiri changes to jiri due to rendaku (連濁).

Noun

聖 ‎(hiragana ひじり, romaji hijiri)

  1. a very virtuous or godly person; a saint
  2. (honorific) the emperor
  3. a sage
  4. an expert; someone distinguished in their field
  5. a virtuous or high-ranking Buddhist priest or monk
  6. a Buddhist priest or monk in general
  7. a monk who has gone into seclusion for purposes of asceticism and spiritual enlightenment
  8. a monk who has adopted an itinerant lifestyle for purposes of asceticism and spiritual enlightenment, supporting themselves by gathering alms and food contributions; by extension, an itinerant preacher monk from Mount Kōya
  9. (euphemistic) alternate name for 清酒 ‎(seishu, “refined sake”)
  10. a textile peddler (from the resemblance to itinerant 高野聖 ‎(Kōya hijiri) Buddhist preachers who would carry everything on their backs)
Synonyms

Etymology 2

From Sinitic 聖.

Adjectival noun

聖 ‎(-nari inflection, hiragana せい, romaji sei)

  1. holy, sacred

Noun

聖 ‎(hiragana せい, romaji sei)

  1. a saint; a holy person
  2. holiness, sacredness
  3. (euphemistic) alternate name for 清酒 ‎(seishu, “refined sake”)

Etymology 3

Translation of English saint, from Latin sanctus.

Prefix

聖 ‎(hiragana せい, romaji sei-)

  1. (Catholicism) prefix added to the names of saints

Etymology 4

Jukujikun.

Proper noun

聖 ‎(hiragana たかし, romaji Takashi)

  1. A male given name

Etymology 5

Jukujikun.

Proper noun

聖 ‎(hiragana さとし, romaji Satoshi)

  1. A male given name

Korean

Hanja

聖 • ‎(seong) (hangeul 성, revised seong, McCune-Reischauer sŏng, Yale seng)

Noun

聖 • ‎(seong) ‎(hangeul 성)

  1. Hanja form? of 성, “holy, saint, sacred”.

Vietnamese

Han character

Noun

聖

  1. Hán tự form of thánh, tường, “holy, saint, sacred”

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