斯文

Chinese

		phonetic; this	language; culture; writing language; culture; writing; formal; literary; gentle
simp. and trad. (斯文)		斯	文

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): sīwén

  (Zhuyin): ㄙ ㄨㄣˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): si¹ man⁴

• Gan (Wiktionary): si¹ un
• Hakka

  (Sixian, PFS): sṳ̂-vùn

  (Hailu, HRS): sii^ˋ vun

• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): su-bûn / sir-bûn

  (Teochew, Peng'im): se¹ bhung⁵

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)
    • Hanyu Pinyin: sīwén → sīwen (toneless final syllable variant)
    • Zhuyin: ㄙ ㄨㄣˊ → ㄙ ˙ㄨㄣ (toneless final syllable variant)
    • Tongyong Pinyin: sihwůn
    • Wade–Giles: ssŭ¹-wên⁵
    • Yale: sz̄-wen
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: sy.wen
    • Palladius: сывэнь (syvɛnʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sz̩⁵⁵ wən³⁵/ → /sz̩⁵⁵ wən²/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: si¹ man⁴
    • Yale: sī màhn
    • Cantonese Pinyin: si¹ man⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: xi¹ men⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /siː⁵⁵ mɐn²¹/
• Gan
  • (Nanchang)
    • Wiktionary: si¹ un
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sz̩⁴² un²/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: sṳ̂-vùn
    • Hakka Romanization System: sii^ˊ vun^ˇ
    • Hagfa Pinyim: si¹ vun²
    • Sinological IPA: /sɨ²⁴ vun¹¹/
  • (Hailu, incl. Zhudong)
    • Hakka Romanization System: sii^ˋ vun
    • Sinological IPA: /sɨ⁵³ vun⁵⁵/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: su-bûn
    • Tâi-lô: su-bûn
    • Phofsit Daibuun: su'buun
    • IPA (Xiamen): /su⁴⁴⁻²² bun²⁴/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /su⁴⁴⁻³³ bun²³/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /su⁴⁴⁻²² bun¹³/
    • IPA (Taipei): /su⁴⁴⁻³³ bun²⁴/
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: sir-bûn
    • Tâi-lô: sir-bûn
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /sɯ³³ bun²⁴/
  • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: se¹ bhung⁵
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: sṳ bûng
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sɯ³³⁻²³ buŋ⁵⁵/

Adjective

斯文

1. gentle; refined; courteous; polite

   女仔要斯文啲 [Cantonese, trad. and simp.]

   neoi⁵ zai² jiu³ si¹ man⁴ di¹ [Jyutping]

   girls need to be refined

2. (Taiwanese Hakka) handsome
   • (Can we date this quote?), 林子淵 (lyrics and music), “細妹仔恁靚”‎^[1]performed by 鄧百成:

     𠊎生得斯文又後生　愛𠊎毋會差 [Sixian Hakka, trad.]
     𠊎生得斯文又后生　爱𠊎毋会差 [Sixian Hakka, simp.]

     ngài sâng tet sṳ̂-vùn yu heu-sâng, oi ngài m̀-voi chhâ [Pha̍k-fa-sṳ]

     I look handsome and young / Loving me won't be a bad idea

Synonyms

• (gentle):

edit

• 優美／优美 (yōuměi) (of music, scenery)
• 典雅 (diǎnyǎ)
• 古雅 (gǔyǎ)
• 嫻／娴 (xián) (literary, or in compounds)
• 嫻靜／娴静 (xiánjìng)
• 幽美 (yōuměi) (literary, of an environment)
• 彬 (bīn) (literary, or in compounds)
• 彬彬 (bīnbīn) (literary)
• 文雅 (wényǎ)
• 文靜／文静 (wénjìng)
• 斯文胎胎 (si¹ wen² tai¹ tai¹) (Sichuanese)
• 斯斯文文 (sīsīwénwén)
• 柔美 (róuměi) (of music, scenery)
• 酥巧 (Xiamen Hokkien)
• 雅相 (ia³ sian⁴) (Xiang)
• 雅緻／雅致 (yǎzhì)
• 高尚 (gāoshàng)
• 高雅 (gāoyǎ)

 

• (handsome):

Dialectal synonyms of 英俊 (“handsome”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		英俊, 帥氣
Northeastern Mandarin	Taiwan	帥
	Malaysia	英俊
	Singapore	帥
Jilu Mandarin	Jinan	帥
Jianghuai Mandarin	Yangzhou	帥
Cantonese	Guangzhou	靚仔
	Hong Kong	靚仔
	Kuala Lumpur (Guangfu)	靚仔
	Penang (Guangfu)	靚仔
	Singapore (Guangfu)	靚仔
Hakka	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	緣投, 斯文
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	緣投, 斯文
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	緣投, 斯文
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	派頭, 緣投, 斯文
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	緣投, 斯文
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	緣投, 斯文
	Singapore (Dabu)	緣投
Southern Min	Xiamen	緣投
	Xiamen (Tong'an)	緣投
	Quanzhou	緣投
	Jinjiang	緣投
	Anxi	緣投
	Zhangzhou	緣投, 燦頭, 燦才
	Tainan	緣投
	Penang (Hokkien)	緣投
	Singapore (Hokkien)	緣投
	Manila (Hokkien)	緣投
	Wenchang	帥
Wu	Shanghai	帥
Xiang	Changsha	帥

Antonyms

edit

• 低下 (dīxià)
• 低俗 (dīsú)
• 低級／低级 (dījí)
• 俗氣／俗气 (súqì)
• 俗骨 (zuk⁶ gwat¹) (Cantonese)
• 傖俗／伧俗 (cāngsú) (formal)
• 卑俗 (bēisú)
• 庸俗 (yōngsú)
• 鄙俗 (bǐsú)
• 鄙吝 (bǐlìn) (literary)

 

Derived terms

• 斯文人
• 斯斯文文 (sīsīwénwén)

 

Noun

斯文

1. (literary) scholar; literati
2. (literary) elegance; refinement
3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see 斯 (sī),‎ 文.
   1. (literary) this text

      • 後之攬者，亦將有感於斯文。 [Literary Chinese, trad.]
        后之揽者，亦将有感于斯文。 [Literary Chinese, simp.]

        From: 353 CE, Wang Xizhi, Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion

        Hòu zhī lǎn zhě, yì jiāng yǒu gǎn yú sī wén. [Pinyin]

        For the people who read this in future generations, perhaps you will likewise be moved by this text.

Derived terms

• 斯文委地
• 斯文掃地／斯文扫地
• 斯文敗類／斯文败类 (sīwénbàilèi)