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): ㄙㄨㄣˊ
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 / si-bûn

(Teochew, Peng'im): se¹ bhung⁵

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: sīwén → sīwen (toneless final syllable variant)
  - Zhuyin: ㄙㄨㄣˊ → 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
  - Sinological IPA (Xiamen): /su⁴⁴⁻²² bun²⁴/
  - Sinological IPA (Kaohsiung): /su⁴⁴⁻³³ bun²³/
  - Sinological IPA (Zhangzhou): /su⁴⁴⁻²² bun¹³/
  - Sinological IPA (Taipei): /su⁴⁴⁻³³ bun²⁴/
- (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: sir-bûn
  - Tâi-lô: sir-bûn
  - Sinological IPA (Quanzhou): /sɯ³³ bun²⁴/
- (Hokkien: Jinjiang, Philippines)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: si-bûn
  - Tâi-lô: si-bûn
  - Phofsit Daibuun: si'buun
  - Sinological IPA (Jinjiang, Philippines): /si³³ bun²⁴/
- (Teochew)
  - Peng'im: se¹ bhung⁵
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: sṳ bûng
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /sɯ³³⁻²³ buŋ⁵⁵/

Adjective

斯文

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
(Taiwanese Hakka) handsome
- (Can we date this quote?), 林子淵, “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

(literary) scholar; literati
(literary) elegance; refinement
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

Proper noun

斯文

a transliteration of the Swedish male given name Sven