冠者五六人

guànzhěwǔliùrén

phrase

Meanings

1 five or six capped youths
2 Confucian scene from the Analects — young men of capping age in Zeng Dian's vision of an ideal spring outing

Characters

capped (come of age)

ones who (classical nominalizer)

Examples

老师引《论语》，说的正是"冠者五六人"那段春游。

Lǎoshī yǐn 《Lúnyǔ》, shuō de zhèng shì "guàn zhě wǔ liù rén" nà duàn chūnyóu.

The teacher was quoting the Analects — exactly that spring outing with 'five or six capped youths.'

他心目中的理想生活就是冠者五六人，童子六七人，浴乎沂水。

Tā xīnmùzhōng de lǐxiǎng shēnghuó jiùshì guàn zhě wǔ liù rén, tóngzǐ liù qī rén, yù hū Yí shuǐ.

His ideal life was 'five or six capped youths, six or seven boys, bathing in the Yi river.'

Tips

history

From 《论语·先进》, the 'Zeng Dian speaks of his ambitions' 侍坐 passage: '暮春者，春服既成，冠者五六人，童子六七人，浴乎沂，风乎舞雩，咏而归.' Confucius sighs 'I am with Dian' — endorsing quiet joy over political ambition.

usage

冠 (guàn, 4th tone) here = 'capped' (come of age, ~20). Different from 冠 (guān, 1st tone) meaning 'hat/crown.' 冠者 = an adult young man.

Stroke Order

冠 guān

者 zhě

五 wǔ

六 liù

人 rén