遜

See also: 逊

遜 U+905C, 遜 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-905C ← 遛 [U+905B] CJK Unified Ideographs 遝 → [U+905D]

Translingual

Han character

遜 (Kangxi radical 162, 辵+10, 14 strokes, cangjie input 卜弓木火 (YNDF), four-corner 3230₉, composition ⿺辶孫)

Derived characters

• 䕖

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1263, character 3
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 39038
• Dae Jaweon: page 1757, character 7
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 6, page 3874, character 3
• Unihan data for U+905C

Chinese

trad.		遜
simp.		逊

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 遜
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Characters in the same phonetic series (孫) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
孫	*suːn
猻	*suːn
蓀	*suːn
搎	*suːn
遜	*suːns
愻	*suːns

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *suːns) : semantic 辵 (“to walk”) + phonetic 孫 (OC *suːn).

Etymology

Cognate with 孫 (OC *suːn, “grandchild”).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): xùn (xun⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄒㄩㄣˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): seon³
• Puxian Min (Pouseng Ping'ing): song⁴ / suong⁴
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): sùn

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: xùn
    • Zhuyin: ㄒㄩㄣˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: syùn
    • Wade–Giles: hsün⁴
    • Yale: syùn
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shiunn
    • Palladius: сюнь (sjunʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɕyn⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: seon³
    • Yale: seun
    • Cantonese Pinyin: soen³
    • Guangdong Romanization: sên³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sɵn³³/
• Puxian Min
  • (Putian)
    • Pouseng Ping'ing: song⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɬɔŋ⁴²/
  • (Xianyou)
    • Pouseng Ping'ing: suong⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɬuoŋ⁴²/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou, General Taiwanese, Xiamen, Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: sùn
    • Tâi-lô: sùn
    • Phofsit Daibuun: suxn
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /sun⁴¹/
    • IPA (Taipei): /sun¹¹/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung, Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /sun²¹/

---

• Middle Chinese: swonH

Rime
Character	遜
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	心 (16)
Final (韻)	魂 (55)
Tone (調)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Closed
Division (等)	I
Fanqie	蘇困切
Baxter	swonH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/suənH/
Pan Wuyun	/suonH/
Shao Rongfen	/suənH/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/swənH/
Li Rong	/suənH/
Wang Li	/suənH/
Bernhard Karlgren	/suənH/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	sùn
Expected Cantonese Reflex	syun3

• Old Chinese

  (Zhengzhang): /*suːns/

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	遜
Reading #	1/1
No.	12182
Phonetic component	孫
Rime group	文
Rime subdivision	2
Corresponding MC rime	巽
Old Chinese	/*suːns/

Definitions

遜

1. humble; modest
2. to abdicate; (of an emperor) to give up the throne
3. (literary) inferior
4. (literary) to flee; to escape; to evade

   • 吾家耄遜于荒 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     吾家耄逊于荒 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Book of Documents, circa 7^th – 4^th centuries BCE

     wú jiā mào xùn yú huāng [Pinyin]

     Our household's elders fled to the wasteland

5. (Internet slang) lame

   太遜了／太逊了  ―  tài xùn le  ―  so lame

6. A respelling of the English patronymic son

   納爾遜／纳尔逊  ―  Nà'ěr Xùn  ―  Nelson

Compounds

• 不遜 / 不逊 (bùxùn)
• 出言不遜 / 出言不逊 (chūyánbùxùn)
• 口出不遜 / 口出不逊
• 固遜 / 固逊
• 托克遜 / 托克逊 (Tuōkèxùn)
• 推賢遜能 / 推贤逊能
• 推遜 / 推逊
• 桀驁不遜 / 桀骜不逊
• 毫不遜色 / 毫不逊色
• 湯遜湖 / 汤逊湖 (Tāngxùn Hú)
• 略遜一籌 / 略逊一筹 (lüèxùnyīchóu)
• 稍遜一籌 / 稍逊一筹 (shāoxùnyīchóu)
• 約翰遜 / 约翰逊 (Yuēhànxùn)
• 謙遜 / 谦逊 (qiānxùn)
• 謙遜下士 / 谦逊下士
• 達布遜 / 达布逊 (Dábùxùn)
• 遜位 / 逊位
• 遜志時敏 / 逊志时敏
• 遜色 / 逊色 (xùnsè)
• 遜謝 / 逊谢 (xùnxiè)
• 遜遁 / 逊遁
• 遜順 / 逊顺

 

References

• 莆田市荔城区档案馆 [Putian City Licheng District Archives], editor (2022), “逊”, in 莆仙方言文读字汇 [Puxian Dialect Literary Reading Dictionary] (overall work in Mandarin and Puxian Min), page 272.

Japanese

Kanji

遜

(Jōyō kanji)

1. modest; humble
2. inferior
3. to defer, to give up something
4. to escape, to flee

Readings

• Go-on: そん (son, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: そん (son, Jōyō)
• Kun: ゆずる (yuzuru, 遜る)、へりくだる (herikudaru, 遜る)、のがれる (nogareru, 遜れる)、したがう (shitagau)
• Nanori: ゆずる (yuzuru)

Compounds

• 遜色(そんしょく) (sonshoku): inferiority

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 遜 (MC swonH).

Hanja

遜 (eumhun 겸손할 손 (gyeomsonhal son))

1. hanja form^? of 손 (“modesty”)

Compounds

• 공손 (恭遜, gongson, “politeness; courteousness; civility”)
• 겸손 (謙遜, gyeomson, “modesty, humility”)
• 손색 (遜色, sonsaek, “inferiority”)
• 불손 (不遜, bulson, “immodesty; insolence”)

References

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [1]

Vietnamese

Han character

遜: Hán Nôm readings: tốn

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