作俑

Chinese

		to regard as; to take (someone) for; to do to regard as; to take (someone) for; to do; to make	wooden figures buried with the dead
simp. and trad. (作俑)		作	俑
Literally: “to make tomb figurines”.

Etymology

Believed to be from a mistaken belief that human sacrifice evolved from the burial of tomb figurines.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): zuòyǒng

  (Zhuyin): ㄗㄨㄛˋ ㄩㄥˇ

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: zuòyǒng
    • Zhuyin: ㄗㄨㄛˋ ㄩㄥˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: zuòyǒng
    • Wade–Giles: tso⁴-yung³
    • Yale: dzwò-yǔng
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tzuohyeong
    • Palladius: цзоюн (czojun)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡su̯ɔ⁵¹ jʊŋ²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/

Verb

作俑

1. to originate an immoral practice; to set a bad example

Derived terms

• 始作俑者 (shǐzuòyǒngzhě)