須臾

See also: 须臾

Chinese

		necessary; must; need	surname; a moment; little while
trad. (須臾)		須	臾
simp. (须臾)		须	臾

Etymology

“48 minutes”

Semantic loan from Sanskrit मुहूर्त (muhūrta).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): xūyú

  (Zhuyin): ㄒㄩ ㄩˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): seoi¹ jyu⁴
• Eastern Min (BUC): sṳ̆-ṳ̀
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): su-jû

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: xūyú
    • Zhuyin: ㄒㄩ ㄩˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: syuyú
    • Wade–Giles: hsü¹-yü²
    • Yale: syū-yú
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shiuyu
    • Palladius: сюйюй (sjujjuj)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɕy⁵⁵ y³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: seoi¹ jyu⁴
    • Yale: sēui yùh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: soey¹ jy⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: sêu¹ yu⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sɵy̯⁵⁵ jyː²¹/
• Eastern Min
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: sṳ̆-ṳ̀
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sy⁵⁵ y⁵³/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: su-jû
    • Tâi-lô: su-jû
    • Phofsit Daibuun: sujuu
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /su⁴⁴⁻³³ zu²³/

---

• Middle Chinese: sju yu

Rime
Character	須	臾
Reading #	1/1	1/2
Initial (聲)	心 (16)	以 (36)
Final (韻)	虞 (24)	虞 (24)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Closed	Closed
Division (等)	III	III
Fanqie	相俞切	羊朱切
Baxter	sju	yu
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/sɨo/	/jɨo/
Pan Wuyun	/sio/	/jio/
Shao Rongfen	/sio/	/io/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/suə̆/	/juə̆/
Li Rong	/sio/	/io/
Wang Li	/sĭu/	/jĭu/
Bernard Karlgren	/si̯u/	/i̯u/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	xū	yú
Expected Cantonese Reflex	seoi1	jyu4

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*[s]o  [ɢ](r)o/

  (Zhengzhang): /*so  lo/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	須	臾
Reading #	2/2	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	xū	yú
Middle Chinese	‹ sju ›	‹ yu ›
Old Chinese	/*[s]o/	/*[ɢ](r)o/
English	斯須 a short time	pull, drag
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	須	臾
Reading #	1/1	2/2
No.	13955	15823
Phonetic component	須	臾
Rime group	侯	侯
Rime subdivision	0	0
Corresponding MC rime	須	逾
Old Chinese	/*so/	/*lo/

Noun

須臾

1. (literary) an instant

   • 吾嘗終日而思矣，不如須臾之所學也。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     吾尝终日而思矣，不如须臾之所学也。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Xunzi, c. 3^rd century BCE

     Wú cháng zhōngrì ér sī yǐ, bùrú xūyú zhī suǒ xué yě. [Pinyin]

     I have once engaged in thinking for the whole day, and it could not compare with a moment of learning.

2. (Buddhism, archaic) A unit of time consisting of one-thirtieth of a day (approximately 48 minutes).

   Synonym: 牟呼栗多 (móuhūlìduō)

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (須臾):

• → Japanese: 須(しゅ)臾(ゆ) (shuyu); 須(す)臾(ゆ) (suyu)

Japanese

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
須	臾
しゅ Grade: S	ゆ Hyōgaiji
kan’on	on’yomi

Appears to be a shift in reading from suyu below, adopting the relatively newer kan'on reading of shu for the first character.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) しゅ​ゆ [shúꜜyù] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [ɕɨᵝjɯ̟ᵝ]

Noun

須(しゅ)臾(ゆ) • (shuyu) 

1. a short amount of time, a moment, an instant
2. (uncommon) a very small number, 10^-15

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
須	臾
す Grade: S	ゆ Hyōgaiji
goon	on’yomi

Probably from Middle Chinese 須臾 (MC sju yu). The goon reading, so likely the initial borrowing.

Ultimately derived as a meaning-based translation of Sanskrit मुहूर्त (muhūrta, “a moment, instant, any short space of time”), applied to the earlier phonetically transcribed term 牟呼栗多 (MC mjuw xu lit ta).

This reading appears to be less common than shuyu above.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) す​ゆ [súꜜyù] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [sɨᵝjɯ̟ᵝ]

Noun

須(す)臾(ゆ) • (suyu) 

1. a short amount of time, a moment, an instant
2. (uncommon) a very small number, 10^-15