食色性也

Chinese

		eat; food; to feed eat; food; to feed; animal feed	colour; dice; look colour; dice; look; appearance	sex; nature; suffix corresponding to ‑ness or ‑ity	also; too
trad. (食色性也)		食	色	性	也
simp. #(食色性也)		食	色	性	也

Etymology

From Mencius (《孟子·告子上》):

告子曰：「食色，性也。仁，內也，非外也；義，外也，非內也。」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

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告子曰：「食色，性也。仁，内也，非外也；义，外也，非内也。」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: Mencius, c. 4^th century BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

Gàozǐ yuē: “Shí sè, xìng yě. Rén, nèi yě, fēi wài yě; yì, wài yě, fēi nèi yě.” [Pinyin]

The philosopher Gao said, "To enjoy food and delight in colours is nature. Benevolence is internal and not external; righteousness is external and not internal."

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): shísèxìngyě

  (Zhuyin): ㄕˊ ㄙㄜˋ ㄒㄧㄥˋ ㄧㄝˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): sik⁶ sik¹ sing³ jaa⁵

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: shísèxìngyě
    • Zhuyin: ㄕˊ ㄙㄜˋ ㄒㄧㄥˋ ㄧㄝˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: shíhsèsìngyě
    • Wade–Giles: shih²-sê⁴-hsing⁴-yeh³
    • Yale: shŕ-sè-syìng-yě
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shyrsehshinqyee
    • Palladius: шисэсинъе (šisɛsinʺje)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʂʐ̩³⁵ sɤ⁵¹⁻⁵³ ɕiŋ⁵¹ jɛ²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: sik⁶ sik¹ sing³ jaa⁵
    • Yale: sihk sīk sing yáh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: sik⁹ sik⁷ sing³ jaa⁵
    • Guangdong Romanization: xig⁶ xig¹ xing³ ya⁵
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sɪk̚² sɪk̚⁵ sɪŋ³³ jaː¹³/

Phrase

食色性也

1. To enjoy food and delight in sex is nature.