苟

See also: 茍

Translingual

Han character

苟 (Kangxi radical 140, 艸+5, 8 strokes, cangjie input 廿心口 (TPR), four-corner 4462₇, composition ⿱艹句)

Derived characters

• 敬

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1023, character 5
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 30790
• Dae Jaweon: page 1482, character 5
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 5, page 3194, character 12
• Unihan data for U+82DF

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Chinese

trad.		苟
simp. #		苟

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 苟
Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Characters in the same phonetic series (句) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
勾	*koː, *koːs
鉤	*koː
鴝	*koː, *ɡo
句	*koː, *koːs, *kos, *ɡo
夠	*koː, *koːs, *kʰoː
枸	*koː, *koːʔ, *koʔ
軥	*koː, *koːs, *ɡo
狗	*koːʔ
苟	*koːʔ
岣	*koːʔ, *ko
笱	*koːʔ
玽	*koːʔ
耇	*koːʔ
豿	*koːʔ, *qʰroːɡ
敂	*koːʔ
怐	*koːs, *kʰoːs, *qʰoːs, *kos
雊	*koːs
竘	*kʰoːʔ, *kʰoʔ
齁	*qʰoː
呴	*qʰoːʔ, *qʰos
蚼	*qʰoːʔ, *ɡo
豞	*qʰoːs
訽	*qʰoːs, *ɡoːs
佝	*qʰoːs
拘	*ko
駒	*ko
眗	*ko
跔	*ko
鮈	*ko
痀	*ko
蒟	*koʔ, *kos
絇	*kos, *ɡo
邭	*kos
劬	*ɡo
朐	*ɡo
鼩	*ɡo
斪	*ɡo
翑	*ɡo
葋	*ɡo
姁	*ɡo, *qʰo, *qʰoʔ, *qʰos
欨	*qʰo, *qʰoʔ
喣	*qʰoʔ
煦	*qʰoʔ, *qʰos
昫	*qʰos

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *koːʔ) : semantic 艹 + phonetic 句 (OC *koː, *koːs, *kos, *ɡo) – a kind of grass, in original sense.

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): gǒu (gou³)

  (Zhuyin): ㄍㄡˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): gau²
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): kió / kó͘

  (Teochew, Peng'im): gou²

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: gǒu
    • Zhuyin: ㄍㄡˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: gǒu
    • Wade–Giles: kou³
    • Yale: gǒu
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: goou
    • Palladius: гоу (gou)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /koʊ̯²¹⁴/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: gau²
    • Yale: gáu
    • Cantonese Pinyin: gau²
    • Guangdong Romanization: geo²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kɐu̯³⁵/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: kió
    • Tâi-lô: kió
    • Phofsit Daibuun: kioir
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /kio⁵⁵⁴/
  • (Hokkien: General Taiwanese, Xiamen, Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: kó͘
    • Tâi-lô: kóo
    • Phofsit Daibuun: kor
    • IPA (Taipei, Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /kɔ⁵³/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /kɔ⁴¹/
  • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: gou²
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: kóu
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kou⁵²/

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• Middle Chinese: kuwX

Rime
Character	苟
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	見 (28)
Final (韻)	侯 (137)
Tone (調)	Rising (X)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	I
Fanqie	古厚切
Baxter	kuwX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/kəuX/
Pan Wuyun	/kəuX/
Shao Rongfen	/kəuX/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/kəwX/
Li Rong	/kuX/
Wang Li	/kəuX/
Bernard Karlgren	/kə̯uX/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	gǒu
Expected Cantonese Reflex	gau2

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*[k]ˤ(r)oʔ/

  (Zhengzhang): /*koːʔ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	苟
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	gǒu
Middle Chinese	‹ kuwX ›
Old Chinese	/*[k]ˁ(r)oʔ/
English	if really
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	苟
Reading #	1/1
No.	7069
Phonetic component	句
Rime group	侯
Rime subdivision	0
Corresponding MC rime	苟
Old Chinese	/*koːʔ/

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 苟

1. careless, frivolous
2. illicit
3. temporizing; unprincipled
4. if, but, if only

   • 苟能充之，足以保四海；苟不充之，不足以事父母。 [Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]

     From: Mencius, c. 4^th century BCE

     Gǒu néng chōng zhī, zúyǐ bǎo sìhǎi; gǒu bù chōng zhī, bù zúyǐ shì fùmǔ. [Pinyin]

     If the four principles can be developed, men will be capable of lving and protecting all within the four seas; if the four principles are not developed, men will not be capable of serving their parents.

5. a type of grass
6. any; at all
7. at least
8. tentatively; for the time being

   • 苟全性命於亂世，不求聞達於諸侯。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     苟全性命于乱世，不求闻达于诸侯。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: (deprecated template usage) 諸葛亮 (Zhūgě Liàng), 《出師表》

     Gǒu quán xìngmìng yú luànshì, bù qiú wèndá yú zhūhóu. [Pinyin]

     For the time being, I did what I could to survive the chaotic times, and never wished to become eminent among the nobles.

9. a surname

Etymology 2

For pronunciation and definitions of 苟 – see 茍 (“to be circumspect or cautious in one's behaviour ”). (This character is recorded in one or more historical dictionaries as a variant form of 茍).

References

• “苟”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[1], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

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Japanese

Kanji

苟

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji)

1. any, at all, in the least

Readings

• Go-on: く (ku)
• Kan-on: こう (kō)
• Kun: いやしくも (iyashikumo, 苟も)

Derived terms

• 苟安(こうあん) (kōan)
• 苟合(こうごう) (kōgō)
• 苟且(こうしょ) (kōsho)
• 苟且(かりそめ) (karisome)

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Korean

Hanja

苟 • (gu) (hangeul 구, revised gu, McCune–Reischauer ku, Yale kwu)

1. careless, frivolous
2. illicit
3. grammatical particle: if, but, if only

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Vietnamese

Han character

(deprecated template usage) 苟 (cẩu)

1. (Tính) Cẩu thả, ẩu, bừa. ◎Như: "nhất bút bất cẩu" 一筆不苟 một nét không cẩu thả.

2. (Phó) Tạm, tạm bợ. ◎Như: "cẩu an đán tịch" 苟安旦夕 tạm yên sớm tối, "cẩu toàn tính mệnh" 苟全性命 tạm cầu cho còn tính mạng, "cẩu hợp" 苟合 lấy vợ lấy chồng không có đủ lễ chính đáng (không tính chuyện lâu dài).