# 散人
## Chinese
### Pronunciation

* Mandarin
    (Pinyin): sǎnrén
    (Zhuyin): ㄙㄢˇ ㄖㄣˊ
* Mandarin
** (Standard Chinese)
*** Hanyu Pinyin: sǎnrén
*** Zhuyin: ㄙㄢˇ ㄖㄣˊ
*** Tongyong Pinyin: sǎnrén
*** Wade–Giles: san$^3$-jên$^2$
*** Yale: sǎn-rén
*** Gwoyeu Romatzyh: saanren
*** Palladius: саньжэнь (sanʹžɛnʹ)
*** Sinological IPA : /sän²¹⁴⁻²¹ ʐən³⁵/
* Middle Chinese: sanX nyin
Rime :
| Character | 散 | 人 |
| Reading # | 1/2 | 1/1 |
| Initial (聲) | 心 (16) | 日 (38) |
| Final (韻) | 寒 (61) | 眞 (43) |
| Tone (調) | Rising (X) | Level (Ø) |
| Openness (開合) | Open | Open |
| Division (等) | I | III |
| Fanqie | 蘇旱切 | 如鄰切 |
| Baxter | sanX | nyin |
| Reconstructions |||
| Zhengzhang Shangfang | /sɑn$^X$/ | /ȵiɪn/ |
| Pan Wuyun | /sɑn$^X$/ | /ȵin/ |
| Shao Rongfen | /sɑn$^X$/ | /ȵʑjen/ |
| Edwin Pulleyblank | /san$^X$/ | /ȵin/ |
| Li Rong | /sɑn$^X$/ | /ȵiĕn/ |
| Wang Li | /sɑn$^X$/ | /ȵʑĭĕn/ |
| Bernhard Karlgren | /sɑn$^X$/ | /ȵʑi̯ĕn/ |
| Expected Mandarin Reflex | sǎn | rén |
| Expected Cantonese Reflex | saan$^2$ | jan$^4$ |
* Old Chinese
    (Baxter–Sagart): /*[s]ˤa[n]ʔ ni[ŋ]/
    (Zhengzhang): /*saːnʔ njin/
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014) :
| Character | 散 | 人 |
| Reading # | 1/2 | 1/1 |
| Modern Beijing (Pinyin) | sǎn | rén |
| Middle Chinese | ‹ san$^X$ › | ‹ nyin › |
| Old Chinese | /*[s]ˁa[n]ʔ/ | /*ni[ŋ]/ |
| English | scattered (adj.) | (other) person |
| 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 | 散 | 人 |
| Reading # | 1/2 | 1/1 |
| No. | 10967 | 10800 |
| Phonetic component | 散 | 人 |
| Rime group | 元 | 眞 |
| Rime subdivision | 1 | 1 |
| Corresponding MC rime | 散 | 仁 |
| Old Chinese | /*saːnʔ/ | /*njin/ |
| Notes | 說文左上從林 | |

### Noun

散人
* (obsolete, derogatory) mediocre good-for-nothing
    From: Mozi, c. 4th century BCE
    Jūnzǐ xiào zhī, nù yuē: “Sǎnrén yān zhī liáng rú!” [Pinyin]
    When being laughed at, they would reply angrily, saying: “What do you fools know about good Confucians?”
    From: Zhuangzi, circa 3rd – 2nd centuries BCE
    Ér jī sǐ zhī sǎnrén, yòu wū zhī sǎn mù! [Pinyin]
    As a useless man about to die, how can you understand a useless tree then!
* unrestrained wanderer; detached and carefree vagabond
    From: c. late 9th century, 陸龜蒙 (Lù Guīméng), 《江湖散人傳》(Biography of the Vagrant of Rivers and Lakes), translated by Victor H. Mair
    Sǎnrén zhě, sǎndàn zhī rén yě. Xīn sǎn, yì sǎn, xíng sǎn, shén sǎn, jì wú jī xiàn, wéi shí zhī guàimín, shù yú lǐyuè zhě wài zhī, yuē cǐ “sǎnrén” yě. [Pinyin]
    A vagrant is someone who is dissolute. His mind wanders, his ideas wander, his form wanders, and his spirit wanders. Being completely unbridled, he is looked at askance by his contemporaries. People who are constrained by decorum distance themselves from him by saying, “This man is a vagrant.”
* (regional) penniless person; pauper

#### Usage notes

This word has undergone amelioration. Ever since Lu Guimeng's Biography of the Vagrant of Rivers and Lakes, it has become an approving word, most commonly seen in self-appointed titles, e.g. the great novelist Luo Guanzhong (c. 1330–1400), the author of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, titled himself 湖海散人 (lit. Vagabond of Lakes and Seas).

#### Synonyms

* (penniless person, pauper):
| Variety | Location | Words |
| Formal (Written Standard Chinese) | Formal (Written Standard Chinese) | 窮人, 貧民 |
| Northeastern Mandarin | Taiwan | 窮人, 窮鬼, 窮光蛋 |
| Northeastern Mandarin | Harbin | 窮光蛋 |
| Northeastern Mandarin | Singapore | 窮人 |
| Jiaoliao Mandarin | Yantai (Muping) | 窮人, 窮光蛋, 窮棒棒子 |
| Central Plains Mandarin | Luoyang | 窮人, 窮光蛋, 溜光蛋, 溜光蛋兒 |
| Central Plains Mandarin | Wanrong | 窮骨頭 |
| Central Plains Mandarin | Xi'an | 窮人, 窮漢, 窮光蛋 |
| Southwestern Mandarin | Chengdu | 窮骨頭 |
| Southwestern Mandarin | Liuzhou | 窮鬼 |
| Cantonese | Guangzhou | 窮人, 窮鬼 |
| Cantonese | Hong Kong | 窮人, 窮鬼 |
| Gan | Nanchang | 窮人 |
| Gan | Lichuan | 窮搭仔 |
| Hakka | Miaoli (N. Sixian) | 窮苦人 |
| Hakka | Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian) | 窮苦人 |
| Hakka | Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu) | 窮苦人 |
| Hakka | Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu) | 窮苦人 |
| Hakka | Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping) | 窮苦人 |
| Hakka | Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an) | 散人 |
| Jin | Taiyuan | 窮人 |
| Eastern Min | Fuzhou | 窮儂 |
| Southern Min | Xiamen | 艱苦儂, 宋凶儂, 赤囝 |
| Southern Min | Quanzhou | 艱苦儂, 赤囝 |
| Southern Min | Zhangzhou | 艱苦儂, 散仔, 阿散仔, 赤囝 |
| Southern Min | New Taipei (Sanxia) | 散凶儂 |
| Southern Min | Kaohsiung | 散凶儂, 散食儂 |
| Southern Min | Yilan | 散凶儂, 散赤儂 |
| Southern Min | Taichung | 散赤儂 |
| Southern Min | Tainan | 散凶儂, 散赤儂, 散鬼 |
| Southern Min | Hsinchu | 散赤儂 |
| Southern Min | Kinmen | 散赤儂 |
| Southern Min | Penghu (Magong) | 散赤儂, 艱苦儂, 歹命儂 |
| Southern Min | Jieyang | 磽囝, 磽囝儂 |
| Southern Min | Leizhou | 窮儂, 窮鬼 |
| Southern Min | Haikou | 窮儂 |
| Southern Pinghua | Nanning (Tingzi) | 窮佬, 窮人, 窮鬼 |
| Wu | Danyang | 窮人, 窮光蛋, 窮塌皮 |
| Wu | Hangzhou | 窮哥哥兒, 窮鬼 |
| Xiang | Changsha | 窮人子 |