Confucius

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin Confucius, from Mandarin 孔夫子 (Kǒng Fūzǐ, “Master Kong”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /kənˈfju.ʃəs/

Proper noun

Confucius

1. An influential Chinese philosopher who lived 551 B.C.E. – 479 B.C.E.; personal name Kong Qiu (孔丘).
   • 1738, “Annals of the Chinese Monarchs”, in A Description of the Empire of China and Chinese-Tartary, Together with the Kingdoms of Korea, and Tibet‎^[1], volume I, London, translation of original by J. B. du Halde, →OCLC, page 167:

     The thirty eighth Year of the Cycle Confucius was preferr’d for his great Merit to be Prime Miniſter of the Kingdom of Lû, his native Country. Thro’ his wiſe Counſel the Face of Affairs was ſoon chang'd throughout the Land ; he reform’d the Abuſes that had crept into it, and reſtor’d Honeſty in dealing ; he taught young Men to reſpect the old, and honour their Parents, even after their Deceaſe ; he inſpir’d the fair Sex with Mildneſs and Chaſtity ; and caus’d Sincerity, Uprightneſs, and all other civil Virtues to prevail among the People.

   • 1977, Thomas P. Bernstein, “Mobilizing Urban Youth to Go to the Countryside”, in Up to the Mountains and Down to the Villages: The Transfer of Youth from Urban to Rural China‎^[2], Yale University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 98:

     Applicants to higher schools had to pass entrance examinations reminiscent of those administered before 1966. This change, which came under attack in the fall of 1973 during the campaign to criticize Lin Piao and Confucius, pleased middle school teachers in No. 6 Middle School in Tan-tung, Liaoning.

2. (very rare) A male given name from Latin.

Synonyms

• Kongzi, Kong Zi, K'ung-tzu

Derived terms

• Confucian
• Confucianism
• Confucianist

Translations

Chinese philosopher

• Afrikaans: Konfusius
• Amharic: ኮንግ-ፉጸ (kong-fuṣä)
• Arabic: كُونْفُوشِيُوس m (kūnfūšiyūs)
• Aragonese: Confucio
• Aramaic: ܩܘܢܦܘܫܝܘܣ
• Armenian: Կոնֆուցիոս (Konfucʻios)
• Asturian: Confucio
• Aymara: Confucius
• Azerbaijani: Konfutsi
• Bambara: Confucius
• Bashkir: Конфуций (Konfutsiy)
• Basque: Konfuzio
• Bavarian: Konfuzius
• Belarusian: Канфу́цый m (Kanfúcyj)
• Bengali: কনফুসিয়াস (konphuśiẏaś)
• Bikol Central: Confucius
• Bislama: Confucius
• Breton: Konfusius
• Bulgarian: Конфу́ций m (Konfúcij)
• Burmese: ကွန်ဖြူးရှပ် (kwanhpru:hrap)
• Catalan: Confuci
• Cebuano: Confucio
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 孔子 (hung² zi²), 孔夫子 (hung² fu¹ zi²)

  Eastern Min: 孔子 (Kūng-cṳ̄)

  Hakka: 孔子 (Khúng-chṳ́)

  Hokkien: 孔子 (Khóng-chú), 孔子公 (zh-min-nan) (Khóng-chú-kong)

  Mandarin: 孔子 (zh) (Kǒngzǐ), 孔夫子 (zh) (Kǒng Fūzǐ)

  Wu: 孔子 (⁵khon-tsy)

• Corsican: Confuciu
• Czech: Konfucius m
• Danish: Konfutse, Konfucius
• Dhivehi: ކޮންފޫޝާ (kon̊fūšā)
• Esperanto: Konfuceo
• Faroese: Konfusius
• Fiji Hindi: Confucius
• Finnish: Kungfutse, Konfutse
• French: Confucius (fr) m
• Friulian: Confuci
• Galician: Confucio
• Georgian: კონფუცი (ḳonpuci)
• German: Konfuzius m (Konfucius, Confucius), Konfutse m
• Greek: Κομφούκιος (el) m (Komfoúkios)
• Greenlandic: Konfusiusi
• Guaraní: Konfúsio
• Gujarati: કન્ફ્યુશિયસ (kanphyuśiyas)
• Hausa: Confucius
• Hebrew: קונפוציוס m
• Hindi: कन्फ़्यूशियस m (kanfyūśiyas)
• Hungarian: Konfuciusz (hu)
• Icelandic: Konfúsíus
• Ido: Kong Zi
• Igbo: Konfúkius
• Interlingua: Confucio
• Irish: Confúicias
• Italian: Confucio m
• Japanese: 孔子 (こうし, Kōshi), 孔夫子 (こうふうし, Kōfūshi)
• Kazakh: Құң-зы (Qūñ-zy)
• Khmer: ខុងជឺ (khong cɨɨ), ខុង ជឺ (khong cɨɨ)
• Korean: 공자(孔子) (ko) (Gongja), 공부자(孔夫子) (Gongbuja)
• Kyrgyz: Конфуций (Konfutsiy)
• Lao: ຂົງຈື້ (khong chư̄)
• Latin: Confucius (la) m
• Lithuanian: Konfucijus
• Macedonian: Конфу́чиј m (Konfúčij)
• Manchu: ᡴᡠᠩᡯᡳ (kungdzi)
• Mongolian: Күнз (Künz)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: Konfutse m, Konfucius m

• Ossetian: Конфуций (Konfucij)
• Pennsylvania German: Konfyuschus
• Persian: کنفوسیوس (konfusiyus)
• Polish: Konfucjusz (pl) m
• Portuguese: Confúcio m
• Russian: Конфу́ций m (Konfúcij), Ку́н-цзы́ m (Kún-czý)
• Scottish Gaelic: Confucius
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Конфучије m

  Roman: Konfučije m

• Sinhalese: කොන්ෆියුසියස් (konfiyusiyas)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: Konfucius

  Upper Sorbian: Konfucius

• Spanish: Confucio m
• Swedish: Konfucius
• Tajik: Конфутсий (Konfutsiy)
• Tamil: கன்பூசியஸ் (kaṉpūciyas)
• Thai: ขงจื๊อ (th) (kǒng-jʉ́ʉ)
• Tibetan: ཁུང་ཙི (khung tsi)
• Turkish: Konfüçyüs (tr)
• Ukrainian: Конфу́цій m (Konfúcij)
• Uyghur: كۇڭزى (kungzi)
• Uzbek: Konfutsiy
• Vietnamese: Khổng Tử (孔子), Khổng Phu Tử (孔夫子)
• Welsh: Conffiwsiws
• West Frisian: Konfusius
• Yiddish: קאָנפֿוציוס (konfutsyus)
• Yoruba: Kọnfukiọsi
• Zealandic: Confucius
• Zhuang: Gungjswj

See also

• Laozi

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin Confucius, from Mandarin 孔夫子 (Kǒng Fūzǐ, “Master Kong”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌkɔnˈfy.si.ʏs/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Con‧fu‧ci‧us

Proper noun

Confucius m

1. Confucius

Related terms

• confucianisme

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin Cōnfucius, from Mandarin 孔夫子 (Kǒng Fūzǐ, “Master Kong”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.fy.sjys/

Proper noun

Confucius m

1. Confucius

Latin

Alternative forms

• Confūtius

Etymology

From Mandarin 孔夫子 (Kǒng Fūzǐ, “Master Kong”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /konˈfuː.ki.us/, [kõːˈfuːkiʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /konˈfu.t͡ʃi.us/, [koɱˈfuːt͡ʃius]

Proper noun

Cōnfūcius m sg (genitive Cōnfūciī or Cōnfūcī); second declension

1. Confucius
   • 1687, Philippe Couplet, Confucius, Sinarum Philosophus:

     CUM FU CU, ſive Confucius quem Sinenſes uti Principem Philoſophiæ ſuæ ſequuntur, […]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1698, Johann Jacob Hofmann, Lexicon Universale:

     CONFUTIUS, dictus Socrates Sinenſis, tum quia huic σύγχρονος, tum quia morum imprimis Doctrinam excoluit.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1826, Stanislas Julien translating Mencius, Meng Tseu‎^[3], page 46:

     Confucius aiebat…

     Confucius said…

Declension

Second-declension noun, singular only.

Case	Singular
Nominative	Cōnfūcius
Genitive	Cōnfūciī Cōnfūcī1
Dative	Cōnfūciō
Accusative	Cōnfūcium
Ablative	Cōnfūciō
Vocative	Cōnfūcī

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).