臊

臊 U+81CA, 臊 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-81CA ← 臉 [U+81C9] CJK Unified Ideographs 臋 → [U+81CB]

Translingual

Han character

臊 (Kangxi radical 130, 肉+13, 17 strokes, cangjie input 月口口木 (BRRD), four-corner 7629₄, composition ⿰⺼喿)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 996, character 18
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 29955
• Dae Jaweon: page 1447, character 20
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 2116, character 10
• Unihan data for U+81CA

Chinese

trad.		臊
simp. #		臊
alternative forms		𦞣

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 臊
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Small seal script

Characters in the same phonetic series (喿) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
藻	*ʔsaːwʔ
澡	*ʔslaːwʔ
璪	*ʔsaːwʔ
繰	*ʔsaːwʔ, *saːw, *sʰaw
躁	*ʔsaːws
趮	*ʔsaːws
操	*sʰaːw, *sʰaːws
幧	*sʰaːw, *sʰaw
懆	*sʰaːwʔ
鄵	*sʰaːws
鐰	*zaːw, *sʰaw
臊	*saːw, *saːws
鱢	*saːw
燥	*saːwʔ, *saːws
噪	*saːws
髞	*saːws
喿	*saːws
譟	*saːws
劋	*ʔsawʔ, *ʔseːwʔ
橾	*soːwʔ, *srow

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *saːw, *saːws): semantic 肉 (“meat; flesh”) + phonetic 喿 (OC *saːws)

Pronunciation 1

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): sāo (sao¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄙㄠ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): sou¹
• Gan (Wiktionary): sau¹
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): so / so͘ / chho

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: sāo
    • Zhuyin: ㄙㄠ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: sao
    • Wade–Giles: sao¹
    • Yale: sāu
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: sau
    • Palladius: сао (sao)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sɑʊ̯⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: sou¹
    • Yale: sōu
    • Cantonese Pinyin: sou¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: sou¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sou̯⁵⁵/
• Gan
  • (Nanchang)
    • Wiktionary: sau¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sau⁴²/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: so
    • Tâi-lô: so
    • Phofsit Daibuun: soy
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /so³³/
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /so⁴⁴/
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: so͘
    • Tâi-lô: soo
    • Phofsit Daibuun: sof
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /sɔ³³/
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: chho
    • Tâi-lô: tsho
    • Phofsit Daibuun: zhoy
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /t͡sʰo³³/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /t͡sʰɤ⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Taipei): /t͡sʰo⁴⁴/

Note:

• so/so͘ - literary;
• chho - vernacular.

---

• Middle Chinese: saw

Rime
Character	臊
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	心 (16)
Final (韻)	豪 (89)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	I
Fanqie	蘇遭切
Baxter	saw
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/sɑu/
Pan Wuyun	/sɑu/
Shao Rongfen	/sɑu/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/saw/
Li Rong	/sɑu/
Wang Li	/sɑu/
Bernhard Karlgren	/sɑu/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	sāo
Expected Cantonese Reflex	sou1

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*[m.s]ˤaw/

  (Zhengzhang): /*saːw/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	臊
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	sāo
Middle Chinese	‹ saw ›
Old Chinese	/*[m.s]ˁaw/
English	fat of swine or dog
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	臊
Reading #	1/2
No.	16577
Phonetic component	喿
Rime group	宵
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	騷
Old Chinese	/*saːw/
Notes	後通作騷

Definitions

臊

1. (having) the smell like one of urine

   alt. forms: 騷 / 骚

2. (having) the rank taste and smell of meat, especially mutton

   alt. forms: 騷 / 骚

   • 16th century, chapter 53, in Journey to the West:

     八戒道：「若這等，我決無傷。他們都是香噴噴的，好做香袋；我是個臊豬，就割了肉去，也是臊的，故此可以無傷。」 [Written Vernacular Chinese, trad.]
     八戒道：「若这等，我决无伤。他们都是香喷喷的，好做香袋；我是个臊猪，就割了肉去，也是臊的，故此可以无伤。」 [Written Vernacular Chinese, simp.]

     Bājiè dào: “Ruò zhè děng, wǒ jué wú shāng. Tāmen dōu shì xiāngpēnpēn de, hǎo zuò xiāngdài; wǒ shì ge sāozhū, jiù gē le ròu qù, yě shì sāo de, gùcǐ kěyǐ wú shāng.” [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1947, 魯迅, “上海所感”, in 集外集拾遺, page 307:

     幼小時候，洋紙一到手，便覺得羊臊氣撲鼻 [MSC, trad.]
     幼小时候，洋纸一到手，便觉得羊臊气扑鼻 [MSC, simp.]

     yòuxiǎo shíhòu, yángzhǐ yī dàoshǒu, biàn jué dé yángsāoqì pūbí [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Pronunciation 2

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): sào (sao⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄙㄠˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): sou³

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: sào
    • Zhuyin: ㄙㄠˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: sào
    • Wade–Giles: sao⁴
    • Yale: sàu
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: saw
    • Palladius: сао (sao)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sɑʊ̯⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: sou³
    • Yale: sou
    • Cantonese Pinyin: sou³
    • Guangdong Romanization: sou³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sou̯³³/

Definitions

臊

1. used in 臊子 (“minced meat”)
2. embarrassed
3. to embarrass

Compounds

• 不怕臊
• 不臊
• 害臊 (hàisào)
• 怕臊 (pàsào)
• 扯臊 (chěsào)
• 放屁辣臊 (fàngpìlàsāo)
• 沒羞沒臊 / 没羞没臊
• 狐臊 (húsāo)
• 瞎扯臊
• 老臊胡
• 腥臊 (xīngsāo)
• 腥臊味
• 臊味
• 臊子
• 臊子麵 / 臊子面 (sàozimiàn)
• 臊根
• 臊氣 / 臊气 (sāoqì)
• 臊皮
• 臊羯奴
• 臊聲 / 臊声
• 臭短臊長 / 臭短臊长

References

• “臊”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• “臊”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2025.

Japanese

Kanji

臊

(Hyōgai kanji)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Readings

• On (unclassified): そう (sō)
• Kun: あぶら (abura)

Korean

Hanja

臊 • (jo) (hangeul 조, revised jo, McCune–Reischauer cho, Yale co)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.