# 刻舟求劍
## Chinese

| | | quarter (hour); (a measure word); to carvequarter (hour); (a measure word); to carve; to engrave; to cut; oppressive | boat | to seek; to look for; to requestto seek; to look for; to request; to demand; to beseech | (double-edged) sword |
| trad. (刻舟求劍) | trad. (刻舟求劍) | 刻 | 舟 | 求 | 劍 |
| simp. (刻舟求剑) | simp. (刻舟求剑) | 刻 | 舟 | 求 | 剑 |
| Literally: “notch the boat in search of the sword”. ||||||

### Etymology

From a story in Master Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals:
    楚人有涉江者，其劍自舟中墜於水。遽契其舟，曰：是吾劍之所從墜。舟止，從其所契者入水求之。舟已行矣，而劍不行。求劍若此，不亦惑乎。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]楚人有涉江者，其剑自舟中坠于水。遽契其舟，曰：是吾剑之所从坠。舟止，从其所契者入水求之。舟已行矣，而剑不行。求剑若此，不亦惑乎。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]From: Lü Buwei, Master Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals, 239 BCEChǔ rén yǒu shè jiāng zhě, qí jiàn zì zhōu zhōng zhuì yú shuǐ. Jù qì qí zhōu, yuē: shì wú jiàn zhī suǒ cóng zhuì. Zhōu zhǐ, cóng qí suǒ qì zhě rù shuǐ qiú zhī. Zhōu yǐ xíng yǐ, ér jiàn bù xíng. Qiú jiàn ruò cǐ, bù yì huò hū. [Pinyin]There was a man from the state of Chu who was crossing a river. His sword fell from the boat into the river. He quickly made a notch on the boat saying, "This is the place where my sword fell in. When the boat stops, I will go into the water and search for my sword from the spot where I made the notch." The boat was already moving, but the sword had not moved. Is it not stupid to search for the sword in this manner?

### Pronunciation

* Mandarin
    (Pinyin): kèzhōuqiújiàn
    (Zhuyin): ㄎㄜˋ ㄓㄡ ㄑㄧㄡˊ ㄐㄧㄢˋ
* Cantonese (Jyutping): hak$^1$ zau$^1$ kau$^4$ gim$^3$
* Mandarin
** (Standard Chinese)
*** Hanyu Pinyin: kèzhōuqiújiàn
*** Zhuyin: ㄎㄜˋ ㄓㄡ ㄑㄧㄡˊ ㄐㄧㄢˋ
*** Tongyong Pinyin: kèjhoucióujiàn
*** Wade–Giles: kʻo$^4$-chou$^1$-chʻiu$^2$-chien$^4$
*** Yale: kè-jōu-chyóu-jyàn
*** Gwoyeu Romatzyh: kehjouchyoujiann
*** Palladius: кэчжоуцюцзянь (kɛčžoucjuczjanʹ)
*** Sinological IPA : /kʰɤ⁵¹ ʈ͡ʂoʊ̯⁵⁵ t͡ɕʰi̯oʊ̯³⁵ t͡ɕi̯ɛn⁵¹/
* Cantonese
** (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
*** Jyutping: hak$^1$ zau$^1$ kau$^4$ gim$^3$
*** Yale: hāk jāu kàuh gim
*** Cantonese Pinyin: hak$^7$ dzau$^1$ kau$^4$ gim$^3$
*** Guangdong Romanization: heg$^1$ zeo$^1$ keo$^4$ gim$^3$
*** Sinological IPA : /hɐk̚⁵ t͡sɐu̯⁵⁵ kʰɐu̯²¹ kiːm³³/
* Middle Chinese: khok tsyuw gjuw kjaemH
Rime :
| Character | 刻 | 舟 | 求 | 劍 |
| Reading # | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 |
| Initial (聲) | 溪 (29) | 章 (23) | 群 (30) | 見 (28) |
| Final (韻) | 德 (131) | 尤 (136) | 尤 (136) | 嚴 (145) |
| Tone (調) | Checked (Ø) | Level (Ø) | Level (Ø) | Departing (H) |
| Openness (開合) | Open | Open | Open | Open |
| Division (等) | I | III | III | III |
| Fanqie | 苦得切 | 職流切 | 巨鳩切 | 居欠切 |
| Baxter | khok | tsyuw | gjuw | kjaemH |
| Reconstructions |||||
| Zhengzhang Shangfang | /kʰək̚/ | /t͡ɕɨu/ | /ɡɨu/ | /kɨɐm$^H$/ |
| Pan Wuyun | /kʰək̚/ | /t͡ɕiu/ | /ɡiu/ | /kiɐm$^H$/ |
| Shao Rongfen | /kʰək̚/ | /t͡ɕiəu/ | /ɡiəu/ | /kiɐm$^H$/ |
| Edwin Pulleyblank | /kʰək̚/ | /cuw/ | /guw/ | /kɨam$^H$/ |
| Li Rong | /kʰək̚/ | /t͡ɕiu/ | /ɡiu/ | /kiɐm$^H$/ |
| Wang Li | /kʰək̚/ | /t͡ɕĭəu/ | /ɡĭəu/ | /kĭɐm$^H$/ |
| Bernard Karlgren | /kʰək̚/ | /t͡ɕi̯ə̯u/ | /gi̯ə̯u/ | /ki̯ɐm$^H$/ |
| Expected Mandarin Reflex | ke | zhōu | qiú | jiàn |
| Expected Cantonese Reflex | hak$^1$ | zau$^1$ | kau$^4$ | gim$^3$ |
* Old Chinese
    (Baxter–Sagart): /*[kʰ]ˤək tu [ɡ](r)u s.kr[a]m-s/
    (Zhengzhang): /*kʰɯːɡ tjɯw ɡu kams/
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014) :
| Character | 刻 | 舟 | 求 | 劍 |
| Reading # | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 |
| Modern Beijing (Pinyin) | kè | zhōu | qiú | jiàn |
| Middle Chinese | ‹ khok › | ‹ tsyuw › | ‹ gjuw › | ‹ kjæm$^H$ › |
| Old Chinese | /*[kʰ]ˁək/ | /*tu/ | /*[ɡ](r)u/ | /*s.kr[a]m-s/ |
| English | cut, engrave | boat | seek | sword |
| 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 | 刻 | 舟 | 求 | 劍 |
| Reading # | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 |
| No. | 4840 | 17504 | 10560 | 10227 |
| Phonetic component | 亥 | 舟 | 求 | 僉 |
| Rime group | 職 | 幽 | 幽 | 談 |
| Rime subdivision | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Corresponding MC rime | 刻 | 周 | 𧚍 | 劔 |
| Old Chinese | /*kʰɯːɡ/ | /*tjɯw/ | /*ɡu/ | /*kams/ |
| Notes | | | 說文作裘古文， 甲文爲蛷初文與裘大異 | 原列梵韻作劒， 此本說文籀文， 集韻驗韻或體 |

### Idiom

刻舟求劍
* to not know how to adapt to changed conditions; to rigidly cling to an idea or approach without considering the reality of a situation; to stubbornly cling to tradition
    From: c. 1791, Anonymous, Dream of the Red Chamber, Chapter 120 (紅樓夢/第120回)
    Sì nǐ zhèyàng xúngēnjiūdǐ, biànshì kèzhōuqiújiàn, jiāozhùgǔsè le. [Pinyin]
    It seems as though this kind of thorough investigation that you are conducting is like notching a moving boat in order to mark where your sword dropped into the river, you are being inflexible.
    From: c. 1900 - 1995: Xia Yan, Unite and advance through liberation thought (解放思想團結前進)
    Wénxué yìshù gōngzuòzhě bìxū zhèngshì wǒguó dāngqián xùnsù biànhuà de shíjì, lái kǎochá wǒmen guòqù yòng guàn le de wényì lǐlùn, ér bùnéng kèzhōuqiújiàn. [Pinyin]
    Workers in the literary arts must squarely face the reality of the rapid changes currently taking place within our country when considering the wellworn theories of the past about literature and art, and must not stubbornly cling to tradition.

#### Descendants

* → Japanese: 刻(こく)舟(しゅう)求(きゅう)剣(けん) (kokushūkyūken)
* → Korean: 각주구검(刻舟求劍) (gakjugugeom)
* → Vietnamese: khắc chu cầu kiếm (刻舟求劍)
Others:
* → Japanese: (calque) 舟(ふね)に刻(きざ)みて剣(けん)を求(もと)む (fune ni kizamite ken o motomu)

## Korean

Hanja in this term :
| 刻 | 舟 | 求 | 劍 |

### Noun

刻舟求劍 • (gakjugugeom) (hangeul 각주구검)
* hanja form of 각주구검