胥 (xū): a minor government clerk (old)

Meanings

1 a minor government clerk (old)
2 all; mutually
3 surname Xu

Characters

胥

xū

minor clerk; all; surname

Examples

伍子胥是吴国著名的谋士。

Wǔ Zǐxū shì Wúguó zhùmíng de móushì.

Wu Zixu was a famous strategist of the state of Wu.

古代衙门里的胥吏负责文书。

Gǔdài yámen lǐ de xūlì fùzé wénshū.

Minor clerks handled the paperwork in the ancient government office.

Tips

history

胥 most often turns up as 胥吏, the low-level, hereditary clerks who actually ran the day-to-day paperwork of imperial government offices. As a surname it is famous through 伍子胥 (Wu Zixu, d. 484 BC), the Chu-born strategist who served the state of Wu. The literary sense 'all / mutually' is now archaic.

Components

radical

⺼ ròu

meat; flesh

The meat-flesh radical ⺼ at the bottom points to the oldest meaning, a crab or meat paste; the modern clerk/surname uses are borrowed sounds.

phonetic

疋 pǐ

bolt of cloth (here phonetic base)

The top element 疋 supplies the phonetic base; the original sense was a kind of preserved meat, with the sound later carried into the clerk and 'all' meanings.