採薇

Chinese

		to pick; to pluck; to collect to pick; to pluck; to collect; to select; to choose; to gather	Osmunda regalis
trad. (採薇/采薇)		採/采	薇
simp. (采薇)		采	薇

Etymology

Boyi and Shuqi (approximately 1046 BCE), two princes of the former Shang dynasty, refused to eat the food of the newly founded (in their opinion, usurping) Zhou dynasty. They lived in seclusion in Shouyang Mountain and ate fiddlehead ferns before starving to death:

武王已平殷亂，天下宗周，而伯夷、叔齊恥之，義不食周粟，隱於首陽山，采薇而食之。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

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武王已平殷乱，天下宗周，而伯夷、叔齐耻之，义不食周粟，隐于首阳山，采薇而食之。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE

Wǔ wáng yǐ píng Yīn luàn, tiānxià zōng Zhōu, ér Bóyí, Shūqí chǐ zhī, yì bùshízhōusù, yǐn yú Shǒuyáng Shān, cǎiwēi ér shí zhī. [Pinyin]

King Wu pacified the unrest of Yin (Shang), and the whole nation switched allegiance to the Zhou dynasty. But Boyi and Shuqi considered it disgraceful and expressed their loyalty to Yin by not eating any grain of Zhou. They secluded themselves in Shouyang Mountain, where they gathered ferns to eat.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): cǎiwéi

  (Zhuyin): ㄘㄞˇ ㄨㄟˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): coi² mei⁴

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: cǎiwéi
    • Zhuyin: ㄘㄞˇ ㄨㄟˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: cǎiwéi
    • Wade–Giles: tsʻai³-wei²
    • Yale: tsǎi-wéi
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tsaewei
    • Palladius: цайвэй (cajvɛj)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sʰaɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ weɪ̯³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: coi² mei⁴
    • Yale: chói mèih
    • Cantonese Pinyin: tsoi² mei⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: coi² méi⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sʰɔːi̯³⁵ mei̯²¹/

Verb

採薇

1. (literary) to pick ferns

   • 采薇采薇、薇亦作止。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]

     From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11^th – 7^th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Cǎiwēi cǎiwēi, wēi yì zuò zhǐ. [Pinyin]

     Let us gather the thorn-ferns, let us gather the thorn-ferns; The thorn-ferns are now springing up.

2. (literary, by extension) to seclude oneself

   • 相顧無相識，長歌懷採薇。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     相顾无相识，长歌怀采薇。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 野望 by Wang Ji (王績)

     Xiāng gù wú xiāngshí, cháng gē huái cǎiwēi. [Pinyin]

     Among faces around I was acquainted with none; I chanted a song while reflecting upon those who picked ferns in seclusion.