符水

Chinese

		mark; sign; talisman mark; sign; talisman; to seal; to correspond (to); tally; symbol; written charm; to coincide	water; river
trad. (符水)		符	水
simp. #(符水)		符	水

Etymology

符 (fú) is short for 符籙／符箓 (fúlù, mysterious writing used by Daoists to fight against ghosts and spirits). A Daoist priest would burn writing which was deemed to have magical properties, and then mix the ashes with water. This water was believed to have healing powers. Zhang Jue (d. 184), the leader of the Yellow Turban Rebellion gave out this water during the outbreak of an epidemic disease. In this way, he attracted a large following, which eventually led to the rebellion.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): fúshuǐ

  (Zhuyin): ㄈㄨˊ ㄕㄨㄟˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): fu⁴ seoi²

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: fúshuǐ
    • Zhuyin: ㄈㄨˊ ㄕㄨㄟˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: fúshuěi
    • Wade–Giles: fu²-shui³
    • Yale: fú-shwěi
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: fwushoei
    • Palladius: фушуй (fušuj)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /fu³⁵ ʂu̯eɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: fu⁴ seoi²
    • Yale: fùh séui
    • Cantonese Pinyin: fu⁴ soey²
    • Guangdong Romanization: fu⁴ sêu²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /fuː²¹ sɵy̯³⁵/

Noun

(deprecated template usage) 符水

1. (archaic) magic water; charmed water

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (符水):

• → Vietnamese: phù thuỷ (符水)