璧流離

Chinese

		piece of jade with hole in centre	to wander about homeless; to live as a refugee
trad. (璧流離)		璧	流離
simp. (璧流离)		璧	流离
alternative forms		璧琉璃

Etymology

Phono-semantic matching of a corrupted form of Sanskrit वैडूर्य (vaiḍūrya, “cat's-eye; jewel; lapis lazuli”), Pali veḷuriya (“lapis lazuli”). Related to 吠瑠璃 (fèiliúlí), 琉璃 (liúlí).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): bìliúlí

  (Zhuyin): ㄅㄧˋ ㄌㄧㄡˊ ㄌㄧˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): bik¹ lau⁴ lei⁴

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: bìliúlí
    • Zhuyin: ㄅㄧˋ ㄌㄧㄡˊ ㄌㄧˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: bìlióulí
    • Wade–Giles: pi⁴-liu²-li²
    • Yale: bì-lyóu-lí
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: bihliouli
    • Palladius: билюли (biljuli)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /pi⁵¹ li̯oʊ̯³⁵ li³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: bik¹ lau⁴ lei⁴
    • Yale: bīk làuh lèih
    • Cantonese Pinyin: bik⁷ lau⁴ lei⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: big¹ leo⁴ léi⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /pɪk̚⁵ lɐu̯²¹ lei̯²¹/

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• Middle Chinese: pjiek ljuw lje

Rime
Character	璧	流	離
Reading #	1/1	1/1	1/3
Initial (聲)	幫 (1)	來 (37)	來 (37)
Final (韻)	昔 (123)	尤 (136)	支 (11)
Tone (調)	Checked (Ø)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open	Open
Division (等)	III	III	III
Fanqie	必益切	力求切	呂支切
Baxter	pjiek	ljuw	lje
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/piᴇk̚/	/lɨu/	/liᴇ/
Pan Wuyun	/piɛk̚/	/liu/	/liɛ/
Shao Rongfen	/piæk̚/	/liəu/	/ljɛ/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/piajk̚/	/luw/	/liə̆/
Li Rong	/piɛk̚/	/liu/	/lie/
Wang Li	/pĭɛk̚/	/lĭəu/	/lǐe/
Bernhard Karlgren	/pi̯ɛk̚/	/li̯ə̯u/	/lie̯/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	bi	liú	lí
Expected Cantonese Reflex	bik1	lau4	lei4

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*pek  ru  [r]aj/

  (Zhengzhang): /*peɡ  ru  rel/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	璧	流	離
Reading #	1/1	1/1	1/3
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	bì	liú	lí
Middle Chinese	‹ pjiek ›	‹ ljuw ›	‹ lje ›
Old Chinese	/*pek/	/*ru/	/*[r]aj/
English	circular jade insignium	flow (v.)	meet with, encounter
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	璧	流	離
Reading #	1/1	1/1	2/3
No.	676	8335	7780
Phonetic component	辟	流	离
Rime group	錫	幽	歌
Rime subdivision	0	1	2
Corresponding MC rime	辟	劉	離
Old Chinese	/*peɡ/	/*ru/	/*rel/
Notes		或爲毓省聲	甲文象隹入網羅， 離反爲省文

Noun

璧流離

1. (literary, obsolete) cat's-eye

   • 出封牛、水牛、象、大狗、沐猴、孔爵、珠璣、珊瑚、虎魄、璧流離。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     出封牛、水牛、象、大狗、沐猴、孔爵、珠玑、珊瑚、虎魄、璧流离。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Book of Han, circa 1^st century CE

     Chū fēngniú, shuǐniú, xiàng, dàgǒu, mùhóu, kǒngjué, zhūjī, shānhú, hǔpò, bìliúlí. [Pinyin]

     (The country of Jibin in the Western Regions) produces bison, buffalo, elephants, big dogs (kuchis?), macaques, peacocks, jewels, corals, ambers and cat's eyes.