太上

Chinese

		too (much); very; extremely too (much); very; extremely; highest; greatest	up; on; on top up; on; on top; upon; first; previous or last; upper; higher; above; previous; to climb; to go into; to go up
simp. and trad. (太上)		太	上

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): tàishàng

  (Zhuyin): ㄊㄞˋ ㄕㄤˋ

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: tàishàng
    • Zhuyin: ㄊㄞˋ ㄕㄤˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: tàishàng
    • Wade–Giles: tʻai⁴-shang⁴
    • Yale: tài-shàng
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tayshanq
    • Palladius: тайшан (tajšan)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰaɪ̯⁵¹⁻⁵³ ʂɑŋ⁵¹/

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• Middle Chinese: thajH dzyangH

Rime
Character	太	上
Reading #	1/1	2/2
Initial (聲)	透 (6)	常 (25)
Final (韻)	泰 (25)	陽 (105)
Tone (調)	Departing (H)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	I	III
Fanqie	他蓋切	時亮切
Baxter	thajH	dzyangH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/tʰɑiH/	/d͡ʑɨɐŋH/
Pan Wuyun	/tʰɑiH/	/d͡ʑiɐŋH/
Shao Rongfen	/tʰɑiH/	/d͡ʑiɑŋH/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/tʰajH/	/d͡ʑɨaŋH/
Li Rong	/tʰɑiH/	/ʑiaŋH/
Wang Li	/tʰɑiH/	/ʑĭaŋH/
Bernard Karlgren	/tʰɑiH/	/ʑi̯aŋH/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	tài	shàng
Expected Cantonese Reflex	taai3	soeng6

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*l̥ˤa[t]-s  daŋʔ-s/

  (Zhengzhang): /*tʰaːds  djaŋs/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	太	上
Reading #	1/1	3/3
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	tài	shàng
Middle Chinese	‹ thajH ›	‹ dzyangH ›
Old Chinese	/*l̥ˁa[t]-s/	/*daŋʔ-s/
English	great	top, above (n.)
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	太	上
Reading #	1/1	2/2
No.	1937	11103
Phonetic component	大	上
Rime group	祭	陽
Rime subdivision	1	0
Corresponding MC rime	泰	尚
Old Chinese	/*tʰaːds/	/*djaŋs/

Adverb

太上

1. (archaic) first; firstly; above all; first and foremost

   • 太上不生惡，其次而能夙絕之也，其下復而能改也。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     太上不生恶，其次而能夙绝之也，其下复而能改也。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: c. 1st century BCE, The Elder Dai's Book of Rites (《大戴禮記》)

     Tàishàng bù shēng è, qícì ér néng sù jué zhī yě, qíxià fù ér néng gǎi yě. [Pinyin]

     First of all, do not engender evil. Failing that, next do one's best to terminate the wrongs early. Still next, try to redress the grievances and change one's ways.

   • 太上不辱先，其次不辱身。 [Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]

     From: Sima Qian, 1st century BCE, Letter to Ren An. Translated by Burton Watson.

     Tàishàng bù rǔ xiān, qícì bù rǔ shēn. [Pinyin]

     Above all, a man must not bring shame to his forebears. Next he must not shame his person.