刺史

Chinese

		thorn; sting; prick thorn; sting; prick; pierce; stab; thrust; assassinate; murder	history
simp. and trad. (刺史)		刺	史

Etymology

Originally, a 刺史 was responsible for maintaining order within a given region. By the time of Emperor Wu of Han, the status of 刺史 was elevated to that of governor of a Zhou (province).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): cìshǐ

  (Zhuyin): ㄘˋ ㄕˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): ci³ si²

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: cìshǐ
    • Zhuyin: ㄘˋ ㄕˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: cìhshǐh
    • Wade–Giles: tzʻŭ⁴-shih³
    • Yale: tsz̀-shř
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tsyhshyy
    • Palladius: цыши (cyši)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sʰz̩⁵¹ ʂʐ̩²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: ci³ si²
    • Yale: chi sí
    • Cantonese Pinyin: tsi³ si²
    • Guangdong Romanization: qi³ xi²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sʰiː³³ siː³⁵/

---

• Middle Chinese: tshjeH sriX

Rime
Character	刺	史
Reading #	1/2	1/1
Initial (聲)	清 (14)	生 (21)
Final (韻)	支 (11)	之 (19)
Tone (調)	Departing (H)	Rising (X)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	III	III
Fanqie	七賜切	踈士切
Baxter	tshjeH	sriX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/t͡sʰiᴇH/	/ʃɨX/
Pan Wuyun	/t͡sʰiɛH/	/ʃɨX/
Shao Rongfen	/t͡sʰjɛH/	/ʃieX/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/t͡sʰiə̆H/	/ʂɨX/
Li Rong	/t͡sʰieH/	/ʃiəX/
Wang Li	/t͡sʰǐeH/	/ʃĭəX/
Bernard Karlgren	/t͡sʰie̯H/	/ʂiX/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	cì	shǐ
Expected Cantonese Reflex	ci3	si2

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*[tsʰ]ek-s  s-rəʔ/

  (Zhengzhang): /*sʰeɡs  srɯʔ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	刺	史
Reading #	1/2	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	cì	shǐ
Middle Chinese	‹ tshjeH ›	‹ sriX ›
Old Chinese	/*[tsʰ]ek-s/	/*s-rəʔ/
English	sharp point, thorn	scribe
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	刺	史
Reading #	1/2	1/1
No.	1746	11487
Phonetic component	朿	史
Rime group	賜	之
Rime subdivision	0	0
Corresponding MC rime	刺	史
Old Chinese	/*sʰeɡs/	/*srɯʔ/

Noun

刺史

1. (historical) provincial governor; the governor of a zhou (country subdivision)

Synonyms

• 使君 (shǐjūn)

Descendants

• → Old Turkic: 𐰲𐰃𐰏𐰾𐰃 (čig₂s₂i)