# 匹夫之勇
## Chinese

| | | ordinary man; the common people; the massesordinary man; the common people; the masses; ordinary citizens | 's; him/her/it; this | brave |
| trad. (匹夫之勇) | trad. (匹夫之勇) | 匹夫 | 之 | 勇 |
| simp. $^#$(匹夫之勇) | simp. $^#$(匹夫之勇) | 匹夫 | 之 | 勇 |
| Literally: “the courage of the ordinary man”. |||||

### Etymology

From Mencius (《孟子·梁惠王下》):
    對曰：「王請無好小勇。夫撫劍疾視曰：『彼惡敢當我哉！』此匹夫之勇，敵一人者也。王請大之！ [Classical Chinese, trad.]对曰：「王请无好小勇。夫抚剑疾视曰：『彼恶敢当我哉！』此匹夫之勇，敌一人者也。王请大之！ [Classical Chinese, simp.]From: Mencius, c. 4th century BCE, translated based on James Legge's versionDuì yuē: “Wáng qǐng wú hǎo xiǎo yǒng. Fú fǔjiàn jíshì yuē: ‘Bǐ wū gǎn dāng wǒ zāi!’ Cǐ pǐfū zhī yǒng, dí yīrén zhě yě. Wáng qǐng dà zhī! [Pinyin]"I beg your Majesty," was the reply, "not to love small valour. If a man brandishes his sword, looks fiercely, and says, 'How dare he withstand me?' - this is the valour of a common man, who can be the opponent only of a single individual. I beg your Majesty to greaten it."

### Pronunciation

* Mandarin
    (Pinyin): pǐfūzhīyǒng
    (Zhuyin): ㄆㄧˇ ㄈㄨ ㄓ ㄩㄥˇ
* Cantonese (Jyutping): pat$^1$ fu$^1$ zi$^1$ jung$^5$
* Mandarin
** (Standard Chinese)
*** Hanyu Pinyin: pǐfūzhīyǒng
*** Zhuyin: ㄆㄧˇ ㄈㄨ ㄓ ㄩㄥˇ
*** Tongyong Pinyin: pǐfujhihyǒng
*** Wade–Giles: pʻi$^3$-fu$^1$-chih$^1$-yung$^3$
*** Yale: pǐ-fū-jr̄-yǔng
*** Gwoyeu Romatzyh: piifujyyeong
*** Palladius: пифучжиюн (pifučžijun)
*** Sinological IPA : /pʰi²¹⁴⁻²¹ fu⁵⁵ ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵ jʊŋ²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
* Cantonese
** (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
*** Jyutping: pat$^1$ fu$^1$ zi$^1$ jung$^5$
*** Yale: pāt fū jī yúhng
*** Cantonese Pinyin: pat$^7$ fu$^1$ dzi$^1$ jung$^5$
*** Guangdong Romanization: ped$^1$ fu$^1$ ji$^1$ yung$^5$
*** Sinological IPA : /pʰɐt̚⁵ fuː⁵⁵ t͡siː⁵⁵ jʊŋ¹³/
* Middle Chinese: phjit pju tsyi yowngX
Rime :
| Character | 匹 | 夫 | 之 | 勇 |
| Reading # | 1/1 | 2/2 | 1/1 | 1/1 |
| Initial (聲) | 滂 (2) | 幫 (1) | 章 (23) | 以 (36) |
| Final (韻) | 質 (48) | 虞 (24) | 之 (19) | 鍾 (7) |
| Tone (調) | Checked (Ø) | Level (Ø) | Level (Ø) | Rising (X) |
| Openness (開合) | Open | Closed | Open | Open |
| Division (等) | III | III | III | III |
| Fanqie | 譬吉切 | 甫無切 | 止而切 | 余隴切 |
| Baxter | phjit | pju | tsyi | yowngX |
| Reconstructions |||||
| Zhengzhang Shangfang | /pʰiɪt̚/ | /pɨo/ | /t͡ɕɨ/ | /jɨoŋ$^X$/ |
| Pan Wuyun | /pʰit̚/ | /pio/ | /t͡ɕɨ/ | /jioŋ$^X$/ |
| Shao Rongfen | /pʰjet̚/ | /pio/ | /t͡ɕie/ | /ioŋ$^X$/ |
| Edwin Pulleyblank | /pʰit̚/ | /puə̆/ | /cɨ/ | /juawŋ$^X$/ |
| Li Rong | /pʰiĕt̚/ | /pio/ | /t͡ɕiə/ | /ioŋ$^X$/ |
| Wang Li | /pʰĭĕt̚/ | /pĭu/ | /t͡ɕĭə/ | /jĭwoŋ$^X$/ |
| Bernard Karlgren | /pʰi̯ĕt̚/ | /pi̯u/ | /t͡ɕi/ | /i̯woŋ$^X$/ |
| Expected Mandarin Reflex | pi | fū | zhī | yǒng |
| Expected Cantonese Reflex | pat$^1$ | fu$^1$ | zi$^1$ | jung$^5$ |
* Old Chinese
    (Baxter–Sagart): /*pʰi[t] p(r)a tə loŋʔ/
    (Zhengzhang): /*pʰid pa tjɯ loŋʔ/
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014) :
| Character | 匹 | 夫 | 之 | 之 | 勇 |
| Reading # | 1/1 | 1/3 | 1/2 | 2/2 | 1/1 |
| Modern Beijing (Pinyin) | pǐ | fū | zhī | zhī | yǒng |
| Middle Chinese | ‹ phjit › | ‹ pju › | ‹ tsyi › | ‹ tsyi › | ‹ yowng$^X$ › |
| Old Chinese | /*pʰi[t]/ | /*p(r)a/ | /*tə/ | /*tə/ | /*loŋʔ/ |
| English | one of a pair | man | go to | (3p object pronoun; attributive particle) | brave |
| 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 | 匹 | 夫 | 之 | 勇 |
| Reading # | 1/1 | 1/2 | 1/1 | 1/1 |
| No. | 9737 | 3274 | 17188 | 15449 |
| Phonetic component | 匹 | 夫 | 之 | 用 |
| Rime group | 質 | 魚 | 之 | 東 |
| Rime subdivision | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Corresponding MC rime | 匹 | 跗 | 之 | 勇 |
| Old Chinese | /*pʰid/ | /*pa/ | /*tjɯ/ | /*loŋʔ/ |

### Idiom

匹夫之勇
* foolhardiness; courage without wisdom or prudence
    From: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, circa 14th century CE
    Yán Liáng, Wén Chǒu, pǐfūzhīyǒng, yīzhàn kěqín. [Pinyin]
    Yan Liang and Wen Chou have but foolhardiness. They can be handled with one battle.