食言

Chinese

		eat; food; to feed eat; food; to feed; animal feed	to speak; to say; talk to speak; to say; talk; word
trad. (食言)		食	言
simp. ^#(食言)		食	言

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): shíyán

(Zhuyin): ㄕˊ ㄧㄢˊ
Cantonese (Jyutping): sik⁶ jin⁴
Southern Min
(Hokkien, POJ): si̍t-giân / si̍t-gân

(Teochew, Peng'im): ziah⁸ ngang⁵

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)
  - Hanyu Pinyin: shíyán
  - Zhuyin: ㄕˊ ㄧㄢˊ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: shíhyán
  - Wade–Giles: shih²-yen²
  - Yale: shŕ-yán
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shyryan
  - Palladius: шиянь (šijanʹ)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʂʐ̩³⁵ jɛn³⁵/
  - Homophones:
    [Show/Hide]
    ^edit
    ^edit
    食言
    食鹽 / 食盐
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: sik⁶ jin⁴
  - Yale: sihk yìhn
  - Cantonese Pinyin: sik⁹ jin⁴
  - Guangdong Romanization: xig⁶ yin⁴
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /sɪk̚² jiːn²¹/
Southern Min
- (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, General Taiwanese)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: si̍t-giân
  - Tâi-lô: si̍t-giân
  - Phofsit Daibuun: sidgieen
  - IPA (Xiamen, Taipei): /sit̚⁴⁻³² ɡiɛn²⁴/
  - IPA (Kaohsiung): /sit̚⁴⁻³² ɡiɛn²³/
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /sit̚²⁴⁻² ɡiɛn²⁴/
- (Hokkien: Zhangzhou)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: si̍t-gân
  - Tâi-lô: si̍t-gân
  - Phofsit Daibuun: sidgaan
  - IPA (Zhangzhou): /sit̚¹²¹⁻²¹ ɡan¹³/
- (Teochew)
  - Peng'im: ziah⁸ ngang⁵
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: tsia̍h ngâng
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡siaʔ⁴⁻² ŋaŋ⁵⁵/

Middle Chinese: zyik ngjon

Rime
Character	食	言
Reading #	2/2	1/1
Initial (聲)	船 (27)	疑 (31)
Final (韻)	職 (134)	元 (65)
Tone (調)	Checked (Ø)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	III	III
Fanqie	乗力切	語軒切
Baxter	zyik	ngjon
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ʑɨk̚/	/ŋɨɐn/
Pan Wuyun	/ʑɨk̚/	/ŋiɐn/
Shao Rongfen	/ʑiek̚/	/ŋiɐn/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ʑik̚/	/ŋɨan/
Li Rong	/d͡ʑiək̚/	/ŋiɐn/
Wang Li	/d͡ʑĭək̚/	/ŋĭɐn/
Bernhard Karlgren	/d͡ʑʰi̯ək̚/	/ŋɨ̯ɐn/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	shí	yán
Expected Cantonese Reflex	sik⁶	jin⁴

Old Chinese
(Baxter–Sagart): /*mə-lək ŋa[n]/

(Zhengzhang): /*ɦljɯɡ ŋan/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	食	言
Reading #	1/2	3/4
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	shí	yán
Middle Chinese	‹ zyik ›	‹ ngjon ›
Old Chinese	/*mə-lək/	/*ŋa[n]/
English	eat	speak; speech
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	食	言
Reading #	2/2	1/1
No.	11477	14271
Phonetic component	食	言
Rime group	職	元
Rime subdivision	0	1
Corresponding MC rime		言
Old Chinese	/*ɦljɯɡ/	/*ŋan/

Verb

食言

to go back on one's word; to break one's promise
- 爾無不信，朕不食言。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, trad.]
  尔无不信，朕不食言。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, simp.]
  From: The Book of Documents, circa 4^th – 3^rd century BCE
  Ěr wú bù xìn, zhèn bù shíyán. [Pinyin]
  (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Synonyms

失信 (shīxìn)

Derived terms

食言而肥 (shíyán'érféi)

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (食言):

→ Japanese: 食(しょく)言(げん) (shokugen)
→ Korean: 식언(食言) (sigeon)