天子

Chinese

		day; sky; heaven	child; son; (noun suffix) child; son; (noun suffix); small thing; seed; egg; 1st earthly branch; 11 p.m.–1 a.m., midnight
simp. and trad. (天子)		天	子

Etymology

Attested earliest in the bronze inscriptions dated to King Kang of Zhou's reign.^[1]

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): tiānzǐ

(Zhuyin): ㄊㄧㄢㄗˇ
Cantonese (Jyutping): tin¹ zi²
Hakka (Sixian, PFS): thiên-chṳ́
Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): thian-chír / thian-chú
Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ¹thi-tsy₅

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: tiānzǐ
  - Zhuyin: ㄊㄧㄢㄗˇ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: tianzǐh
  - Wade–Giles: tʻien¹-tzŭ³
  - Yale: tyān-dž
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tiantzyy
  - Palladius: тяньцзы (tjanʹczy)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰi̯ɛn⁵⁵ t͡sz̩²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: tin¹ zi²
  - Yale: tīn jí
  - Cantonese Pinyin: tin¹ dzi²
  - Guangdong Romanization: tin¹ ji²
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰiːn⁵⁵ t͡siː³⁵/
Hakka
- (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
  - Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: thiên-chṳ́
  - Hakka Romanization System: tien^ˊ zii^ˋ
  - Hagfa Pinyim: tian¹ zi³
  - Sinological IPA: /tʰi̯en²⁴ t͡sɨ³¹/
Southern Min
- (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: thian-chír
  - Tâi-lô: thian-tsír
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /tʰiɛn³³ t͡sɯ⁵⁵⁴/
- (Hokkien: General Taiwanese, Xiamen, Zhangzhou)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: thian-chú
  - Tâi-lô: thian-tsú
  - Phofsit Daibuun: tienzuo
  - IPA (Taipei): /tʰiɛn⁴⁴⁻³³ t͡su⁵³/
  - IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /tʰiɛn⁴⁴⁻²² t͡su⁵³/
  - IPA (Kaohsiung): /tʰiɛn⁴⁴⁻³³ t͡su⁴¹/
Wu
- (Northern: Shanghai)
  - Wugniu: ¹thi-tsy₅
  - MiniDict: thi^平 tsy^去
  - Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ¹thi-tsr₂
  - Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /tʰi⁵⁵ t͡sz̩²¹/

Middle Chinese: then tsiX

Rime
Character	天	子
Reading #	1/1	1/1
Initial (聲)	透 (6)	精 (13)
Final (韻)	先 (85)	之 (19)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Rising (X)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	IV	III
Fanqie	他前切	即里切
Baxter	then	tsiX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/tʰen/	/t͡sɨ^X/
Pan Wuyun	/tʰen/	/t͡sɨ^X/
Shao Rongfen	/tʰɛn/	/t͡sie^X/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/tʰɛn/	/t͡sɨ^X/
Li Rong	/tʰen/	/t͡siə^X/
Wang Li	/tʰien/	/t͡sĭə^X/
Bernhard Karlgren	/tʰien/	/t͡si^X/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	tiān	zǐ
Expected Cantonese Reflex	tin¹	zi²

Old Chinese
(Baxter–Sagart): /*l̥ˤi[n]|l̥ˤi[n] tsəʔ/

(Zhengzhang): /*qʰl'iːn ʔslɯʔ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	天	天	子
Reading #	1/2	2/2	2/2
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	tiān	xiān	zǐ
Middle Chinese	‹ then ›	‹ xen ›	‹ tsi^X ›
Old Chinese	/*l̥ˁi[n]/	/l̥ˁi[n]/ (W dialect: l̥ˁ- > Hàn-time xˁ- > MC x-)	/*tsəʔ/
English	heaven	heaven	child; gentleman, master
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	天	子
Reading #	1/1	1/1
No.	12387	17857
Phonetic component	天	子
Rime group	眞	之
Rime subdivision	1	0
Corresponding MC rime	天	子
Old Chinese	/*qʰl'iːn/	/*ʔslɯʔ/

Noun

天子

Son of Heaven; emperor
- 氒（厥）復亯（享）于天子 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
  氒（厥）复亯（享）于天子 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]
  From: Inscription on {⿹戈冬}方鼎 Dong fangding II (Can we date this quote?), transcribed and translated by Tharsen (2015).^[2]
  氒 (jué) fù 亯 (xiǎng) yú Tiānzǐ [Pinyin]
  He in return makes an offering to Heaven's Son
- 歸來見天子，天子坐明堂。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
  归来见天子，天子坐明堂。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
  From: Ballad of Mulan, circa 6ᵗʰ century ᴄᴇ
  Guī lái jiàn tiānzǐ, tiānzǐ zuò míng táng. [Pinyin]
  [They] return to see the Son of Heaven, who sits in the Hall of Brilliance.

Synonyms

乘輿 / 乘舆 (literary, figurative)
人主 (rénzhǔ) (literary)
人君 (rénjūn) (literary)
人王 (rénwáng)
元首 (yuánshǒu)
君上 (jūnshàng) (literary)
君主 (jūnzhǔ)
君父 (jūnfù) (literary)
君王 (jūnwáng)
國君 / 国君 (guójūn)
國家 / 国家 (guójiā) (Classical Chinese)
大聖 / 大圣 (dàshèng) (literary)
大駕 / 大驾 (dàjià)
官家 (guānjiā) (archaic)
帝王 (dìwáng)
皇帝 (huángdì)
皇辟 (huángbì) (archaic, Son of Heaven)

Derived terms

一朝天子一朝臣 (yī cháo tiānzǐ yī cháo chén)
挾天子以令諸侯 / 挟天子以令诸侯 (xié tiānzǐ yǐ lìng zhūhóu)
月天子 (Yuètiānzǐ)
真命天子 (zhēnmìng tiānzǐ)
真龍天子 / 真龙天子 (zhēnlóng tiānzǐ)
閻羅天子 / 阎罗天子 (Yánluó Tiānzǐ)

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (天子):

→ Japanese: 天(てん)子(し) (tenshi)
→ Korean: 천자(天子) (cheonja)
→ Vietnamese: thiên tử (天子)

Others:

→ Old Turkic: 𐱅𐰤𐰾𐰃 (Tensi)
→ Chagatai: اسمان نینک اوغلی (calque)
→ Classical Mongolian: ᠲᠩᠷᠢ ᠶᠢᠨ
ᠬᠥ᠋ᠪᠡᠭᠦᠨ (tngri-yin köbegün) (calque)
→ English: Son of Heaven (calque)
→ Manchu: ᠠᠪᡴᠠᡳ
ᠵᡠᡳ (abkai jui) (calque)
→ Tibetan: གནམ་གྱི་བུ (gnam gyi bu) (calque)

References

^ Eno, Robert (2012) “Inscriptional records of the Western Zhou”, in scholarworks.iu.edu‎^[1], page 18
^ Tharsen, Jeffrey R. (2015) Chinese Euphonics : Phonetic Patterns, Phonorhetoric and Literary Artistry in Early Chinese Narrative Texts (PhD)‎^[2], University of Chicago

Japanese

Kanji in this term
天	子
てん Grade: 1	し Grade: 1
on'yomi

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [tẽ̞ɰ̃ɕi]

Noun

天(てん)子(し) • (tenshi)

the Emperor of China, Son of Heaven
(poetic, dated) the Emperor of Japan

Korean

Hanja in this term
天	子

Noun

天子 • (cheonja) (hangeul 천자)

hanja form^? of 천자 (“the Emperor of China, Son of Heaven”)

Vietnamese

chữ Hán Nôm in this term
天	子

Noun

天子

chữ Hán form of thiên tử (“Son of Heaven”)