散人

Chinese

		adjourn; scatter; leisurely adjourn; scatter; leisurely; loosen; powdered medicine; to scatter; to come loose	man; person; people
trad. (散人)		散	人
simp. #(散人)		散	人

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): sǎnrén

  (Zhuyin): ㄙㄢˇ ㄖㄣˊ

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: sǎnrén
    • Zhuyin: ㄙㄢˇ ㄖㄣˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: sǎnrén
    • Wade–Giles: san³-jên²
    • Yale: sǎn-rén
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: saanren
    • Palladius: саньжэнь (sanʹžɛnʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sän²¹⁴⁻²¹ ʐən³⁵/

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• Middle Chinese: sanX nyin

Rime
Character	散	人
Reading #	1/2	1/1
Initial (聲)	心 (16)	日 (38)
Final (韻)	寒 (61)	眞 (43)
Tone (調)	Rising (X)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	I	III
Fanqie	蘇旱切	如鄰切
Baxter	sanX	nyin
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/sɑnX/	/ȵiɪn/
Pan Wuyun	/sɑnX/	/ȵin/
Shao Rongfen	/sɑnX/	/ȵʑjen/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/sanX/	/ȵin/
Li Rong	/sɑnX/	/ȵiĕn/
Wang Li	/sɑnX/	/ȵʑĭĕn/
Bernhard Karlgren	/sɑnX/	/ȵʑi̯ĕn/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	sǎn	rén
Expected Cantonese Reflex	saan2	jan4

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*[s]ˤa[n]ʔ  ni[ŋ]/

  (Zhengzhang): /*saːnʔ  njin/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	散	人
Reading #	1/2	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	sǎn	rén
Middle Chinese	‹ sanX ›	‹ nyin ›
Old Chinese	/*[s]ˁa[n]ʔ/	/*ni[ŋ]/
English	scattered (adj.)	(other) person
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	散	人
Reading #	1/2	1/1
No.	10967	10800
Phonetic component	散	人
Rime group	元	眞
Rime subdivision	1	1
Corresponding MC rime	散	仁
Old Chinese	/*saːnʔ/	/*njin/
Notes	說文左上從林

Noun

散人

1. (obsolete, derogatory) mediocre good-for-nothing

   • 君子笑之，怒曰：「散人焉知良儒！」 [Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]

     From: Mozi, c. 4^th century BCE

     Jūnzǐ xiào zhī, nù yuē: “Sǎnrén yān zhī liáng rú!” [Pinyin]

     When being laughed at, they would reply angrily, saying: “What do you fools know about good Confucians?”

   • 而幾死之散人，又惡知散木！ [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     而几死之散人，又恶知散木！ [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Zhuangzi, circa 3^rd – 2^nd centuries BCE

     Ér jī sǐ zhī sǎnrén, yòu wū zhī sǎn mù! [Pinyin]

     As a useless man about to die, how can you understand a useless tree then!

2. unrestrained wanderer; detached and carefree vagabond

   • 散人者，散誕之人也。心散，意散，形散，神散，既無羈限，為時之怪民，束於禮樂者外之，曰此「散人」也。 [Literary Chinese, trad.]
     散人者，散诞之人也。心散，意散，形散，神散，既无羁限，为时之怪民，束于礼乐者外之，曰此「散人」也。 [Literary Chinese, simp.]

     From: c. late 9^th century, 陸龜蒙 (Lù Guīméng), 《江湖散人傳》(Biography of the Vagrant of Rivers and Lakes), translated by Victor H. Mair

     Sǎnrén zhě, sǎndàn zhī rén yě. Xīn sǎn, yì sǎn, xíng sǎn, shén sǎn, jì wú jī xiàn, wéi shí zhī guàimín, shù yú lǐyuè zhě wài zhī, yuē cǐ “sǎnrén” yě. [Pinyin]

     A vagrant is someone who is dissolute. His mind wanders, his ideas wander, his form wanders, and his spirit wanders. Being completely unbridled, he is looked at askance by his contemporaries. People who are constrained by decorum distance themselves from him by saying, “This man is a vagrant.”

3. (regional) penniless person; pauper

Usage notes

This word has undergone amelioration. Ever since Lu Guimeng's Biography of the Vagrant of Rivers and Lakes, it has become an approving word, most commonly seen in self-appointed titles, e.g. the great novelist Luo Guanzhong (c. 1330–1400), the author of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, titled himself 湖海散人 (lit. Vagabond of Lakes and Seas).

Synonyms

• (penniless person, pauper):

Dialectal synonyms of 窮人 (“poor person”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		窮人, 貧民
Northeastern Mandarin	Taiwan	窮人, 窮鬼, 窮光蛋
	Harbin	窮光蛋
	Singapore	窮人
Jiaoliao Mandarin	Yantai (Muping)	窮人, 窮光蛋, 窮棒棒子
Central Plains Mandarin	Luoyang	窮人, 窮光蛋, 溜光蛋, 溜光蛋兒
	Wanrong	窮骨頭
	Xi'an	窮人, 窮漢, 窮光蛋
Southwestern Mandarin	Chengdu	窮骨頭
	Liuzhou	窮鬼
Cantonese	Guangzhou	窮人, 窮鬼
	Hong Kong	窮人, 窮鬼
Gan	Nanchang	窮人
	Lichuan	窮搭仔
Hakka	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	窮苦人
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	窮苦人
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	窮苦人
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	窮苦人
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	窮苦人
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	散人
Jin	Taiyuan	窮人
Eastern Min	Fuzhou	窮儂
Southern Min	Xiamen	艱苦儂, 宋凶儂, 赤囝
	Quanzhou	艱苦儂, 赤囝
	Zhangzhou	艱苦儂, 散仔, 阿散仔, 赤囝
	New Taipei (Sanxia)	散凶儂
	Kaohsiung	散凶儂, 散食儂
	Yilan	散凶儂, 散赤儂
	Taichung	散赤儂
	Tainan	散凶儂, 散赤儂, 散鬼
	Hsinchu	散赤儂
	Kinmen	散赤儂
	Penghu (Magong)	散赤儂, 艱苦儂, 歹命儂
	Jieyang	磽囝, 磽囝儂
	Leizhou	窮儂, 窮鬼
	Haikou	窮儂
Southern Pinghua	Nanning (Tingzi)	窮佬, 窮人, 窮鬼
Wu	Danyang	窮人, 窮光蛋, 窮塌皮
	Hangzhou	窮哥哥兒, 窮鬼
Xiang	Changsha	窮人子