秀

秀 (Kangxi radical 115, 禾+2, 7 strokes, cangjie input 竹木弓竹尸 (HDNHS), four-corner 2022₇, composition ⿱禾乃)

• 唀, 㛢, 琇, 䅎, 綉(绣), 蜏, 誘(诱), 銹(锈), 透, 䞬, 頺, 莠

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 849, character 3
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 24911
• Dae Jaweon: page 1270, character 16
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2589, character 4
• Unihan data for U+79C0

From an earlier form 𥝙, attested in the stone drum inscriptions (石鼓文 (shígǔwén)) from the Warring States period.

According to Chi (2010), the character is an ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意): 禾 (“rice plant”) + 引 (“to draw out flowers”) — blooming of a rice plant. The Shuihudi Qin bamboo texts (睡簡) recorded this character as ⿱禾引. The bottom component 弓 found in the stone drum inscriptions is likely a reduction of 引.

Xu Kai (徐鍇), the author of 《說文解字繫傳》 (10th century AD) gave the following explanation: Pictogram (象形): 禾 (“plant”) + 乃, resembling a fruit/an ear hanging off a plant.

Shuowen states that this character was tabooed at that time (2nd century AD) and so did not elaborate on its origin, due to it being the birth name of Emperor Guangwu of Han.

Schuessler (2007) implicitly connects Proto-Tibeto-Burman *h(r)u (“to blow, breathe; life”), via comparison with Chepang स्यु (syu-, “to prosper, flourish”). If so, compare Burmese ရှူ (hru, “to breathe, inhale”).

Alternatively, perhaps a causative of 褎 (OC *lɯws, “growth of seedlings”). Compare Proto-Vietic *m-loh (“to blossom”) (whence Vietnamese trổ (“to burst, to open, to display”), lổ (“naked”)), and Khmer លាស់ (lŏəh, “to grow, to blossom, to prosper”). Schuessler prefers the Sino-Tibetan theory above to this theory, however.

秀

1. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese, of plants, especially of crops) to shoot out into ears; earing; ear

   秀而不實／秀而不实  ―  xiù'érbùshí  ―  to put forth flowers but bear no fruit

   • 實種實褎，實發實秀。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     实种实褎，实发实秀。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11^th – 7^th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Shí zhòng shí yòu, shí fā shí xiù. [Pinyin]

     Then he used it as seed, and it sprang up; It grew and came into ear.

2. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese, of plants) to bear fruit
3. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese, of plants) to blossom

   • 螻蟈鳴，蚯螾出，王瓜生，苦菜秀。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, trad.]
     蝼蝈鸣，蚯螾出，王瓜生，苦菜秀。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, simp.]

     From: The Book of Rites, c. 4^th – 2^nd century BCE

     Lóuguō míng, qiūyǐn chū, wángguā shēng, kǔcài xiù. [Pinyin]

     The green frogs croak. Earthworms come forth. The royal melons grow. The sow-thistle is in seed.

4. beautiful; elegant; graceful

   秀麗／秀丽  ―  xiùlì  ―  pretty

   秀美  ―  xiùměi  ―  elegant

   眉清目秀  ―  méiqīngmùxiù  ―  with delicate features

5. (especially of a person) outstanding; prominent; extraordinary

   優秀／优秀  ―  yōuxiù  ―  excellent

   俊秀  ―  jùnxiù  ―  elegant; pretty

Phono-semantic matching of English show. Doublet of 騷 / 骚 (sāo)

秀

1. to manifest; to show; to display

   秀出  ―  xiùchū  ―  to show

2. show

   脫口秀／脱口秀  ―  tuōkǒuxiù  ―  talk show

   時裝秀／时装秀  ―  shízhuāngxiù  ―  fashion show

• (show): (Cantonese) 騷／骚 (sou1)

• 莆田市荔城区档案馆 [Putian City Licheng District Archives], editor (2022), “秀”, in 莆仙方言文读字汇 [Puxian Dialect Literary Reading Dictionary] (overall work in Mandarin and Puxian Min), page 267.

(Jōyō kanji)

1. excellent, outstanding

• Go-on: しゅ (shu)
• Kan-on: しゅう (shū, Jōyō)^{←しう (siu, historical)}
• Kun: ひいでる (hīderu, 秀でる, Jōyō)

秀(しゅう) • (shū) 

1. exemplary, excellent.

秀(しゅう) • (Shū) 

1. a male given name

• → English: S rank, S Tier

秀 (eumhun 빼어날 수 (ppaeeonal su))

1. outstanding, remarkable, excellent

秀: Hán Nôm readings: tú

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.