四海

Chinese

		four	ocean; sea
simp. and trad. (四海)		四	海
Literally: “the four seas”.

Etymology

In Ancient China, it was thought that China was surrounded by ocean on all four sides. Eventually, this phrase came to mean "all four directions" or "everywhere."

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): sìhǎi

  (Zhuyin): ㄙˋ ㄏㄞˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): sei³ hoi²
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): si-hói
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): sìr-hái / sù-hái

  (Teochew, Peng'im): si³ hai²

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: sìhǎi
    • Zhuyin: ㄙˋ ㄏㄞˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: sìhhǎi
    • Wade–Giles: ssŭ⁴-hai³
    • Yale: sz̀-hǎi
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: syhhae
    • Palladius: сыхай (syxaj)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sz̩⁵¹ xaɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: sei³ hoi²
    • Yale: sei hói
    • Cantonese Pinyin: sei³ hoi²
    • Guangdong Romanization: séi³ hoi²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sei̯³³ hɔːi̯³⁵/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: si-hói
    • Hakka Romanization System: xi hoi`
    • Hagfa Pinyim: xi⁴ hoi³
    • Sinological IPA: /si⁵⁵ hoi̯³¹/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: sìr-hái
    • Tâi-lô: sìr-hái
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /sɯ⁴¹⁻⁵⁵⁴ hai⁵⁵⁴/
  • (Hokkien: General Taiwanese, Xiamen, Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: sù-hái
    • Tâi-lô: sù-hái
    • Phofsit Daibuun: suo'hae
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /su²¹⁻⁴¹ hai⁴¹/
    • IPA (Taipei): /su¹¹⁻⁵³ hai⁵³/
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /su²¹⁻⁵³ hai⁵³/
  • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: si³ hai²
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: sì hái
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /si²¹³⁻⁵⁵ hai⁵²⁻²¹/

Noun

(deprecated template usage) 四海

1. (literary, figurative) the world; the whole world

Synonyms

(deprecated template usage)

• 世 (shì) (literary, or in compounds)
• 世界 (shìjiè)
• 區宇／区宇 (qūyǔ) (literary, figurative)
• 四國／四国 (sìguó) (literary)
• 域中 (yùzhōng) (literary)
• 天下 (tiānxià) (literary, figurative)
• 天跤下 (Hokkien, figurative)
• 宇內／宇内 (yǔnèi) (literary, figurative)
• 薄海 (bóhǎi) (literary, figurative)

 

Derived terms

(deprecated template usage)