靈長

See also: 霊長 and 灵长

Chinese

		alert; departed soul; efficacious alert; departed soul; efficacious; quick; effective; intelligence	long; length; forever long; length; forever; always; constantly; chief; head; elder; to grow; to develop
trad. (靈長)		靈	長
simp. (灵长)		灵	长

Etymology

The modern sense "human/primate" is borrowed from Japanese 霊長. Literally, "having fantastic power (human intelligence), and being the best of all things". Older attestations with other different obsolete meanings also exist.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): língzhǎng

  (Zhuyin): ㄌㄧㄥˊ ㄓㄤˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): ling⁴ zoeng²

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: língzhǎng
    • Zhuyin: ㄌㄧㄥˊ ㄓㄤˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: língjhǎng
    • Wade–Giles: ling²-chang³
    • Yale: líng-jǎng
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: lingjaang
    • Palladius: линчжан (linčžan)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /liŋ³⁵ ʈ͡ʂɑŋ²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: ling⁴ zoeng²
    • Yale: lìhng jéung
    • Cantonese Pinyin: ling⁴ dzoeng²
    • Guangdong Romanization: ling⁴ zêng²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /lɪŋ²¹ t͡sœːŋ³⁵/

Noun

靈長

1. (poetic) a nickname of humans (Homo sapiens).

   • 人類是一件多麼了不得的傑作！……宇宙的精華！萬物的靈長！ [MSC, trad.]
     人类是一件多么了不得的杰作！……宇宙的精华！万物的灵长！ [MSC, simp.]

     From: Hamlet, translated by 朱生豪, 1943

     Rénlèi shì yī jiàn duōme liǎobùdé de jiézuò!...... Yǔzhòu de jīnghuá! Wànwù de língzhǎng! [Pinyin]

     What a piece of work is a man!... the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals!

2. Only used in 靈長目／灵长目 (Língzhǎngmù) and 靈長類／灵长类.