匹夫 (pǐ fū) — ordinary person, common man; ignorant person, someone lacking education

Definition

Literary word for 'ordinary person' or 'commoner', often with the sense of an uneducated or unrefined individual. Almost always appears in set phrases (一介匹夫, 匹夫之勇) — not used in everyday speech.

noun
ordinary personcommon manignorant personsomeone lacking education

Examples

  • ，匹夫。
    Tiān xià xīng wáng, pǐ fū yǒu zé.
    The rise and fall of the nation concerns every ordinary person.
  • 匹夫，？
    Tā bú guò shì yí jiè pǐ fū, hé bì yǔ tā jì jiào?
    He's just an ordinary man; why bother arguing with him?
  • 匹夫，。
    pǐ fū Zhī yǒng bù zú qǔ, zhēn zhèng de yīng xióng kào zhì huì.
    Reckless courage of a common man is not admirable; a true hero relies on wisdom.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

匹pǐone
夫fūman

匹 gives 'one' and 夫 gives 'man', together naming an ordinary person.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
石石shírock
Sound part声符shēngfú
乙
乙yǐ匹
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The form 匹 is often explained as 石 (rock) with 乙 giving the sound, but its original picture is uncertain.

Open 匹 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

夫 originally drew a man. It was borrowed purely for its sound to write a pronoun, so the picture and the pronoun meaning are unrelated.

Open 夫 →

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