声训

聲訓

shēngxùn

noun

Meanings

1 paronomastic gloss (explaining a word using a homophone or near-homophone)
2 phonetic exegesis

Characters

to gloss; to instruct

Examples

声训是中国传统训诂学的重要方法。

Shēngxùn shì Zhōngguó chuántǒng xùngǔxué de zhòngyào fāngfǎ.

Paronomastic glossing is an important method in traditional Chinese philology.

刘熙的《释名》是一部声训专书。

Liú Xī de “Shìmíng” shì yī bù shēngxùn zhuānshū.

Liu Xi's Shiming is a specialized work of paronomastic glosses.

Tips

history

A 训诂 (xùngǔ, philology) technique used since the Han dynasty: explain a word's meaning by pointing to a homophone, e.g. 政者，正也 ('government [zhèng] is rectitude [zhèng]'). Liu Xi's Eastern Han 释名 (Shìmíng) is the genre's defining text.

Stroke Order

声 shēng

训 xùn