# 血流漂杵
## Chinese

| | | blood | to flow; to spread; to circulateto flow; to spread; to circulate; to move | to bleach; elegant; polishedto bleach; elegant; polished; to float; to drift | pestle; to poke |
| trad. (血流漂杵) | trad. (血流漂杵) | 血 | 流 | 漂 | 杵 |
| simp. $^#$(血流漂杵) | simp. $^#$(血流漂杵) | 血 | 流 | 漂 | 杵 |
| Literally: “so much blood being shed as to float the pestles”. ||||||

### Etymology

According to Gu, 1983, coined by Mencius to describe the fierceness of the battle in which King Wu had defeated King Zhou.
    孟子曰：「盡信書，則不如無書。吾於《武成》，取二三策而已矣。仁人無敵於天下。以至仁伐至不仁，而何其血之流杵也？」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]孟子曰：「尽信书，则不如无书。吾于《武成》，取二三策而已矣。仁人无敌于天下。以至仁伐至不仁，而何其血之流杵也？」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]From: Mencius, c. 4th century BCEMèngzǐ yuē: “Jìn xìn shū, zé bùrú wú shū. Wú yú “Wǔchéng”, qǔ èrsān cè éryǐ yǐ. Rénrén wúdí yú tiānxià. Yǐ zhì rén fá zhì bùrén, ér hé qí xuè zhī liú chǔ yě?” [Pinyin]Mencius said, "It would be better to be without the historical documents than to indiscriminately believe them. In the Accession of King Wu, I merely credit a few passages. A benevolent man is invincible under heaven. When the most benevolent one was engaged against him who was the most malevolent, how could the blood of the people have still flowed till it floated the pestles?"
Note that the abovementioned article is cited by many dictionaries as the earliest source, listed in the first position. However, that text is actually one of the twenty-five additional chapters of Guwen Shangshu or Old Script Book of Documents, which was later proven to be counterfeited by Mei Ze circa 318 CE. It is now widely believed that Shi Fu (lit. Enormous Captives) is what he had really read, or at least has to do with Wu Cheng (lit. Accession of King Wu).

### Pronunciation

* Mandarin
    (Pinyin): xuèliúpiāochǔ, xuěliúpiāochǔ, xiěliúpiāochǔ
    (Zhuyin): ㄒㄩㄝˋ ㄌㄧㄡˊ ㄆㄧㄠ ㄔㄨˇ, ㄒㄩㄝˇ ㄌㄧㄡˊ ㄆㄧㄠ ㄔㄨˇ, ㄒㄧㄝˇ ㄌㄧㄡˊ ㄆㄧㄠ ㄔㄨˇ
* Cantonese (Jyutping): hyut$^3$ lau$^4$ piu$^1$ cyu$^2$ / hyut$^3$ lau$^4$ piu$^1$ cyu$^5$
* Mandarin
** (Standard Chinese, standard in Mainland)
*** Hanyu Pinyin: xuèliúpiāochǔ
*** Zhuyin: ㄒㄩㄝˋ ㄌㄧㄡˊ ㄆㄧㄠ ㄔㄨˇ
*** Tongyong Pinyin: syuèlióupiaochǔ
*** Wade–Giles: hsüeh$^4$-liu$^2$-pʻiao$^1$-chʻu$^3$
*** Yale: sywè-lyóu-pyāu-chǔ
*** Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shiuehlioupiauchuu
*** Palladius: сюэлюпяочу (sjueljupjaoču)
*** Sinological IPA : /ɕy̯ɛ⁵¹ li̯oʊ̯³⁵ pʰi̯ɑʊ̯⁵⁵ ʈ͡ʂʰu²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
** (Standard Chinese, variant in Mainland)
*** Hanyu Pinyin: xuěliúpiāochǔ
*** Zhuyin: ㄒㄩㄝˇ ㄌㄧㄡˊ ㄆㄧㄠ ㄔㄨˇ
*** Tongyong Pinyin: syuělióupiaochǔ
*** Wade–Giles: hsüeh$^3$-liu$^2$-pʻiao$^1$-chʻu$^3$
*** Yale: sywě-lyóu-pyāu-chǔ
*** Gwoyeu Romatzyh: sheuelioupiauchuu
*** Palladius: сюэлюпяочу (sjueljupjaoču)
*** Sinological IPA : /ɕy̯ɛ²¹⁴⁻²¹ li̯oʊ̯³⁵ pʰi̯ɑʊ̯⁵⁵ ʈ͡ʂʰu²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
** (Standard Chinese, standard in Taiwan; colloquial in Mainland)
*** Hanyu Pinyin: xiěliúpiāochǔ
*** Zhuyin: ㄒㄧㄝˇ ㄌㄧㄡˊ ㄆㄧㄠ ㄔㄨˇ
*** Tongyong Pinyin: siělióupiaochǔ
*** Wade–Giles: hsieh$^3$-liu$^2$-pʻiao$^1$-chʻu$^3$
*** Yale: syě-lyóu-pyāu-chǔ
*** Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shieelioupiauchuu
*** Palladius: селюпяочу (seljupjaoču)
*** Sinological IPA : /ɕi̯ɛ²¹⁴⁻²¹ li̯oʊ̯³⁵ pʰi̯ɑʊ̯⁵⁵ ʈ͡ʂʰu²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
* Cantonese
** (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
*** Jyutping: hyut$^3$ lau$^4$ piu$^1$ cyu$^2$ / hyut$^3$ lau$^4$ piu$^1$ cyu$^5$
*** Yale: hyut làuh pīu chyú / hyut làuh pīu chyúh
*** Cantonese Pinyin: hyt$^8$ lau$^4$ piu$^1$ tsy$^2$ / hyt$^8$ lau$^4$ piu$^1$ tsy$^5$
*** Guangdong Romanization: hüd$^3$ leo$^4$ piu$^1$ qu$^2$ / hüd$^3$ leo$^4$ piu$^1$ qu$^5$
*** Sinological IPA : /hyːt̚³ lɐu̯²¹ pʰiːu̯⁵⁵ t͡sʰyː³⁵/, /hyːt̚³ lɐu̯²¹ pʰiːu̯⁵⁵ t͡sʰyː¹³/
* Middle Chinese: xwet ljuw phjiew tsyhoX
Rime :
| Character | 血 | 流 | 漂 | 杵 |
| Reading # | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/2 | 1/1 |
| Initial (聲) | 曉 (32) | 來 (37) | 滂 (2) | 昌 (24) |
| Final (韻) | 屑 (88) | 尤 (136) | 宵 (91) | 魚 (22) |
| Tone (調) | Checked (Ø) | Level (Ø) | Level (Ø) | Rising (X) |
| Openness (開合) | Closed | Open | Open | Open |
| Division (等) | IV | III | III | III |
| Fanqie | 呼決切 | 力求切 | 撫招切 | 昌與切 |
| Baxter | xwet | ljuw | phjiew | tsyhoX |
| Reconstructions |||||
| Zhengzhang Shangfang | /hwet̚/ | /lɨu/ | /pʰiᴇu/ | /t͡ɕʰɨʌ$^X$/ |
| Pan Wuyun | /hʷet̚/ | /liu/ | /pʰiɛu/ | /t͡ɕʰiɔ$^X$/ |
| Shao Rongfen | /xuɛt̚/ | /liəu/ | /pʰjæu/ | /t͡ɕʰiɔ$^X$/ |
| Edwin Pulleyblank | /hwɛt̚/ | /luw/ | /pʰiaw/ | /cʰɨə̆$^X$/ |
| Li Rong | /xuet̚/ | /liu/ | /pʰiɛu/ | /t͡ɕʰiɔ$^X$/ |
| Wang Li | /xiwet̚/ | /lĭəu/ | /pʰĭɛu/ | /t͡ɕʰĭo$^X$/ |
| Bernhard Karlgren | /xiwet̚/ | /li̯ə̯u/ | /pʰi̯ɛu/ | /t͡ɕʰi̯wo$^X$/ |
| Expected Mandarin Reflex | xue | liú | piāo | chǔ |
| Expected Cantonese Reflex | hyut$^3$ | lau$^4$ | piu$^1$ | cyu$^2$ |
* Old Chinese
    (Zhengzhang): /*qʰʷiːɡ ru pʰew ŋ̊ʰjaʔ/
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014) :
| Character | 血 | 流 | 杵 |
| Reading # | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 |
| Modern Beijing (Pinyin) | xuè | liú | chǔ |
| Middle Chinese | ‹ xwet › | ‹ ljuw › | ‹ tsyho$^X$ › |
| Old Chinese | /*m̥ˁik/ | /*ru/ | /*t.qʰaʔ/ |
| English | blood | flow (v.) | pestle |
| 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 | 血 | 流 | 漂 | 杵 |
| Reading # | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/2 | 1/1 |
| No. | 14098 | 8335 | 9753 | 13174 |
| Phonetic component | 血 | 流 | 票 | 午 |
| Rime group | 質 | 幽 | 宵 | 魚 |
| Rime subdivision | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Corresponding MC rime | 血 | 劉 | 爂 | 杵 |
| Old Chinese | /*qʰʷiːɡ/ | /*ru/ | /*pʰew/ | /*ŋ̊ʰjaʔ/ |
| Notes | | 或爲毓省聲 | | |

### Idiom

血流漂杵
* rivers of blood (on the battlefield); blood bath
    From: c. 180~179 BCE, 賈誼,《制不定》
    Yándì zhě, Huángdì tóng fùmǔ dì yě, gè yǒu tiānxià zhī bàn. Huángdì xíngdào, ér Yándì bù tīng, gù zhàn Zhuōlù zhī yě, xuèliúpiāochǔ. [Pinyin]
    The Yan Emperor was the younger brother of the Yellow Emperor, born of the same parents. Each ruled half of the world. However, when the Yellow Emperor followed the way (of proper governance), the Yan Emperor refused to heed him. Thus, they fought at the field of Zhuolu, where blood flowed so abundantly that it could carry pestles.

#### Synonyms

* 血流成河 (xuèliúchénghé)