芟夷

Chinese

		to mow; to cut	to kill; to eradicate
trad. (芟夷)		芟	夷
simp. #(芟夷)		芟	夷
alternative forms		芟荑

Etymology

The phrase can be found in early written literature such as the Zuozhuan (《左傳·隱公六年》):

爲國家者，見惡如農夫之務去草焉。芟夷蘊崇之，絶其本根，勿使能殖，則善者信矣。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

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为国家者，见恶如农夫之务去草焉。芟夷蕴崇之，绝其本根，勿使能殖，则善者信矣。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: Commentary of Zuo, c. 4^th century BCE

Wéi guójiā zhě, jiàn è rú nóngfū zhī wù qù cǎo yān. Shānyí yùnchóng zhī, jué qí běngēn, wùshǐ néng zhí, zé shànzhě shēn yǐ. [Pinyin]

Those charged with the administration of a state or hereditary fief, on seeing evil deeds, acts like a peasant who is obliged to vigorously remove the weeds. He cuts them down, uproots them, collects every single one of them, and pile them up; he destroys their roots and stops them from propagating. Thus, the good ones can grow.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): shānyí

  (Zhuyin): ㄕㄢ ㄧˊ

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: shānyí
    • Zhuyin: ㄕㄢ ㄧˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: shanyí
    • Wade–Giles: shan¹-i²
    • Yale: shān-yí
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shanyi
    • Palladius: шаньи (šanʹi)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʂän⁵⁵ i³⁵/

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• Middle Chinese: sraem yij

Rime
Character	芟	夷
Reading #	1/1	1/1
Initial (聲)	生 (21)	以 (36)
Final (韻)	銜 (149)	脂 (15)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	II	III
Fanqie	所銜切	以脂切
Baxter	sraem	yij
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ʃˠam/	/jiɪ/
Pan Wuyun	/ʃᵚam/	/ji/
Shao Rongfen	/ʃam/	/jɪ/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ʂaɨm/	/ji/
Li Rong	/ʃam/	/i/
Wang Li	/ʃam/	/ji/
Bernhard Karlgren	/ʂam/	/i/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	shān	yí
Expected Cantonese Reflex	saam1	ji4

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*[s]ˤr[a]m  ləj/

  (Zhengzhang): /*sroːm  lil/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	芟	夷
Reading #	1/1	1/2
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	shān	yí
Middle Chinese	‹ sræm ›	‹ yij ›
Old Chinese	/*[s]ˁr[a]m/	/*ləj/
English	mow (v.)	level, peaceful
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	芟	夷
Reading #	1/1	1/1
No.	11069	14862
Phonetic component	芟	夷
Rime group	談	脂
Rime subdivision	3	1
Corresponding MC rime	衫	姨
Old Chinese	/*sroːm/	/*lil/
Notes	小徐殳聲

Verb

芟夷

1. (literary) to weed; to mow grass
2. (literary, figurative) to cut down; to delete
3. (literary, figurative) to destroy completely; to annihilate; to eradicate; to wipe out