私語

See also: 私语

Chinese

		personal; private; selfish	speech; language; dialect speech; language; dialect; tell to
trad. (私語)		私	語
simp. (私语)		私	语

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): sīyǔ

  (Zhuyin): ㄙ ㄩˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): si¹ jyu⁵

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: sīyǔ
    • Zhuyin: ㄙ ㄩˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: sihyǔ
    • Wade–Giles: ssŭ¹-yü³
    • Yale: sz̄-yǔ
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: syyeu
    • Palladius: сыюй (syjuj)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sɹ̩⁵⁵ y²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: si¹ jyu⁵
    • Yale: sī yúh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: si¹ jy⁵
    • Guangdong Romanization: xi¹ yu⁵
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /siː⁵⁵ jyː¹³/

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• Middle Chinese: sij ngjoX

Rime
Character	私	語
Reading #	1/1	1/2
Initial (聲)	心 (16)	疑 (31)
Final (韻)	脂 (15)	魚 (22)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Rising (X)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	III	III
Fanqie	息夷切	魚巨切
Baxter	sij	ngjoX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/siɪ/	/ŋɨʌX/
Pan Wuyun	/si/	/ŋiɔX/
Shao Rongfen	/sjɪ/	/ŋiɔX/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/si/	/ŋɨə̆X/
Li Rong	/si/	/ŋiɔX/
Wang Li	/si/	/ŋĭoX/
Bernhard Karlgren	/si/	/ŋi̯woX/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	sī	yǔ
Expected Cantonese Reflex	si1	jyu5

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*[s]əj  ŋ(r)aʔ/

  (Zhengzhang): /*sil  ŋaʔ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	私	語
Reading #	1/1	1/2
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	sī	yǔ
Middle Chinese	‹ sij ›	‹ ngjoX ›
Old Chinese	/*[s]əj/	/*ŋ(r)aʔ/
English	private	speak
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	私	語
Reading #	1/1	1/2
No.	11949	13159
Phonetic component	厶	五
Rime group	脂	魚
Rime subdivision	1	0
Corresponding MC rime	私	語
Old Chinese	/*sil/	/*ŋaʔ/

Verb

私語

1. (literary) to whisper; to talk in hushed tones

   • 大弦嘈嘈如急雨，小弦切切如私語。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     大弦嘈嘈如急雨，小弦切切如私语。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 815, Bai Juyi, Song of the Pipa

     Dà xián cáocáo rú jí yǔ, xiǎo xián qièqiè rú sīyǔ. [Pinyin]

     The bold strings loudly, with the crash of falling rain; the fine strings softly, as the murmur of whispered words.

Derived terms

• 切切私語 / 切切私语 (qièqièsīyǔ)
• 竊竊私語 / 窃窃私语 (qièqièsīyǔ)

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (私語):

• → Japanese: 私(し)語(ご) (shigo)
• → Korean: 사어(私語) (sa'eo)

Noun

私語

1. secret talk; confidences

Japanese

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
私	語
し Grade: 6	ご Grade: 2
goon

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɕiɡo̞]
• (Tokyo) しご [shíꜜgò] (Atamadaka – [1])

Noun

私(し)語(ご) • (shigo) 

1. whisper, whispering; private or secret talk
   • 1999, Koushun Takami, Battle Royale:

     私語(しご)をするんじゃない！

     Shigo o suru n ja nai!

     No whispering!

Verb

私(し)語(ご)する • (shigo suru) suru (stem 私(し)語(ご)し (shigo shi), past 私(し)語(ご)した (shigo shita))

1. to whisper

Conjugation

Conjugation of "私語する" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs)

Katsuyōkei ("stem forms")
Mizenkei ("imperfective")	私語し	しごし	shigo shi
Ren’yōkei ("continuative")	私語し	しごし	shigo shi
Shūshikei ("terminal")	私語する	しごする	shigo suru
Rentaikei ("attributive")	私語する	しごする	shigo suru
Kateikei ("hypothetical")	私語すれ	しごすれ	shigo sure
Meireikei ("imperative")	私語せよ¹ 私語しろ²	しごせよ¹ しごしろ²	shigo seyo¹ shigo shiro²
Key constructions
Passive	私語される	しごされる	shigo sareru
Causative	私語させる 私語さす	しごさせる しごさす	shigo saseru shigo sasu
Potential	私語できる	しごできる	shigo dekiru
Volitional	私語しよう	しごしよう	shigo shiyō
Negative	私語しない	しごしない	shigo shinai
Negative continuative	私語せず	しごせず	shigo sezu
Formal	私語します	しごします	shigo shimasu
Perfective	私語した	しごした	shigo shita
Conjunctive	私語して	しごして	shigo shite
Hypothetical conditional	私語すれば	しごすれば	shigo sureba

¹ Written imperative
² Spoken imperative

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
私	語
ささやき
Grade: 6	Grade: 2
jukujikun

For pronunciation and definitions of 私語 – see the following entry.

【囁ささやき】 [noun] a whisper, a murmur

(This term, 私語, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)

References

• “私語”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[1] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2026
• Ineko Kondō, Fumi Takano, Mary E. Althaus, et al. (2002), Shogakukan Progressive Japanese-English Dictionary, third edition, Tokyo: Shōgakukan, →ISBN