Chinese Text Project Dictionary

Ancient Classics -> Book of Changes -> Wen Yan -> Qian -> 23

夫「大人」者、與天地合其德，與日月合其明，與四時合其序，與鬼神合其吉凶，先天而天弗違，後天而奉天時。	The great man is he who is in harmony, in his attributes, with heaven and earth; in his brightness, with the sun and moon; in his orderly procedure, with the four sea-sons; and in his relation to what is fortunate and what is calamitous, in harmony with the spirit-like operations (of Providence).
	He may precede Heaven, and Heaven will not act in opposition to him; he may follow Heaven, but will act (only) as Heaven at the time would do.
天且弗違，而況於人乎？	If Heaven will not act in opposition to him, how much less will men!
況於鬼神乎？	how much less will the spirit-like operation (of Providence)!

Character	Composition	Variants	Reading	Meaning	Hanyu	Kangxi	Cihai
夫	大+1		fū ㄈㄨ	General term for adult men. / Adult labourers in particular. / Soldier. / Respectful term for a man. / Husband. / Unit of area equal to one hundred mu.	v1,p0521#01	p.248#11	p.367r2c01
			fú ㄈㄨˊ	Demonstrative pronoun: this, these. / Modal particle used at the start of a sentence for emphasis or to indicate an assertion. / Modal particle used in the middle of a sentence to soften the tone. / Modal particle used at the end of a sentence to express exclamation.
大	大+0	𠘲	dà ㄉㄚˋ	Large, great. / Exceed, be greater than. / Venerate, treat as being great. / Many. / Thick, coarse. / Elder. / Respectful term of address. / Adverb expressing high level or broad range.	v1,p0520#01	p.248#01	p.342r3c03
			tài ㄊㄞˋ	Most (superlative). / Too much. / Peaceful, tranquil.
人	人+0	𠔽亻	rén ㄖㄣˊ	Man, person. / Others, other people. / The people, ordinary men. / Talent, material. / [A man's] character. / Affairs of men, world of man. / Benevolence.	v1,p0101#10	p.91#01	p.80r2c01
者	老+4		zhě ㄓㄜˇ	Pronoun used after verbs, adjectives, etc. in place of a person or thing. / Pronoun used after numbers in place of a thing. / Pronoun used after time or negation to express "when" or "if". / Expressive particle used in a declarative sentence after the subject. / Expressive particle used in a sentence after the subject to express cause or explanation.	v4,p2780#05	p.961#01	p.1080r1c01
			zhuó ㄓㄨㄛˊ	In, located in.
與	臼+8	与𢌱𦦲𠔔	yǔ ㄩˇ	Give. / Follow, go along with. / Comrade, ally. / Association, contact. / Oppose. / Engage [an enemy]. / Approve, consent to. / Help. / Wait. / Preposition indicating passive tense. / Preposition: to, with. / Preposition: with. / Preposition: as. / Preposition: in, on. / Connective: and, with. / Connective: with its ... / Connective: or.	v1,p0251#04	p.1004#13	p.1113r2c03
			yù ㄩˋ	Participate, take part in.
			yǔ ㄩˇ	Interfere in.
			yú ㄩˊ	Auxiliary word: used at the end of a sentence to express questioning , exclamation, or a rhetorical question. / Auxiliary word: used in the middle of a sentence to express a pause.
天	大+1	𠀡𠀘𦴞兲靝𠕹	tiān ㄊㄧㄢ	sky, heaven; god, celestial	v1,p0522#01	p.248#04	p.358r4c01
地	土+3	埊𨻐埅𠏂嶳	dì de ㄉㄧˋ ㄉㄜ·	earth; soil, ground; region	v1,p0420#12	p.224#06	p.312r6c01
合	口+3	閤	hé gě ㄏㄜˊ ㄍㄜˇ	combine, unite, join; gather	v1,p0581#01	p.174#24	p.249r1c02
其	八+6	丌亓	qí ㄑㄧˊ	Third-person possessive pronoun: his, her, its, their. / Demonstrative pronoun: that, those. / Adverb expressing estimation or guess. / Adverb expressing imperative. / Adverb expressing rhetorical question. / Adverb expressing future tense. / Connective expressing hypothesis: if, supposing. / Connective expressing choice: or. / Connective expressing concession: even if. / Particle used after an adjective. / Particle: of. / Particle used for emphasis after single-character adjectives or onomatopoeia. / Particle used in the middle of a sentence to alter the tempo.	v1,p0245#01	p.127#18	p.162r5c01
			jì ㄐㄧˋ	Particle used after bi and he.
			jī ㄐㄧ	Modal particle expressing interrogative tone. / A year.
德	彳+12	惪悳	dé ㄉㄜˊ	Morals, morality. / Good deeds. / Good fortune. / Reward kindness, thank. / Heart, feelings. / Same as 「得(1.1)」 dé ㄉㄜˊ: Get, obtain.	v2,p0841#17	p.371#08	p.518r3c01
日	日+0	𡆸	rì mì ㄖˋ ㄇㄧˋ	sun; day; daytime	v2,p1482#01	p.489#01	p.627r1c01
月	月+0		yuè ㄩㄝˋ	moon; month; KangXi radical 74	v3,p2041#01	p.504#19	p.655r4c05
明	日+4	朙	míng ㄇㄧㄥˊ	Bright, brilliant. / Daytime. / Clear, obvious. / Clarify, make clear. / Understand. / Straightforwardly, clearly. / Clear, clean. / Wise. / Make wise. / Spirit, god. / Respect. / Eyesight. / Good eyesight. / See clearly. / The following (day, month, year, etc.).	v2,p1491#08	p.491#12	p.631r3c01
四	囗+2	𦉭肆	sì ㄙˋ	four	v1,p0710#16	p.216#22	p.294r6c01
時	日+6	旹时	shí ㄕˊ	Season. / Unit of time equal to two hours. / [The passage of] time. / Time, times. / Age, period, epoch. / Occasion, opportune moment. / On time. / Then, at that time. / Always, constantly. / Same as 「伺(1)」 sì ㄙˋ: Wait until, wait for (a chance).	v2,p1505#05	p.494#22	p.639r3c04
序	广+4		xù ㄒㄩˋ	series, serial order, sequence	v2,p0875#18	p.343#35	p.487r1c02
鬼	鬼+0	𩲡𢇼𣆠	guǐ ㄍㄨㄟˇ	ghost; spirit of dead; devil	v7,p4427#01	p.1460#30	p.1521r5c03
神	示+5	神𥛠	shén shēn ㄕㄣˊ ㄕㄣ	spirit, god, supernatural being	v4,p2392#01	p.842#03
吉	口+3		jí ㄐㄧˊ	lucky, propitious, good	v1,p0576#06	p.175#02	p.250r6c01
凶	凵+2	兇㐫𣧑	xiōng ㄒㄩㄥ	culprit; murder; bad, sad	v1,p0306#19	p.135#02	p.171r3c05
先	儿+4		xiān ㄒㄧㄢ	first, former, previous	v1,p0267#02	p.124#05	p.134r3c02
而	而+0		ér ㄦˊ	Whiskers. / Like, similar to. / Pronoun: you. / Pronoun: this, like this. / Connective: and, with. / Connective: and, then. / Connective: if, supposing. / Connective: yet, however. / Connective: therefore, hence. / Connective: expresses method or state. / Particle: of. / Expressive particle.	v4,p2810#01	p.961#18	p.1080r2c03
			néng ㄋㄥˊ	Same as 「能(3)」 néng ㄋㄥˊ: Able to, competent. / Same as 「能(2.1)」 néng ㄋㄥˊ: Ability, talent.
弗	弓+2		fú ㄈㄨˊ	not, negative	v2,p0990#09	p.356#16	p.500r5c01
違	辵+9	违	wéi huí ㄨㄟˊ ㄏㄨㄟˊ	disobey, violate, defy; be apart from	v6,p3868#04	p.1262#11	p.1329r2c01
後	彳+6	𨒥𢔏后	hòu ㄏㄡˋ	Behind, to the rear of. / To be left behind. / Later in time. / Future. / Descendents, offspring.	v2,p0822#03	p.366#18	p.511r2c01
奉	大+5	𠬻𢱵	fèng ㄈㄥˋ	offer; receive; serve; respect	v1,p0531#05	p.251#02	p.370r3c01
且	一+4	𠀇𠀃	qiě ㄑㄧㄝˇ	This. / Connective: both, also. / Connective: and. / Connective: not only that, furthermore. / Connective: or. / Connective: not only, even. / Connective: if. / Adverb: will. / Adverb: briefly. / Adverb: almost. / Particle used at the start of a sentence.	v1,p0015#05	p.77#07	p.34r6c02
			jū ㄐㄩ	Appearance of a great many. / Exclamation. / Alternative name for the sixth month.
			cú ㄘㄨˊ	Go.
況	水+5	况𡶢	kuàng ㄎㄨㄤˋ	condition, situation; furthermore	v3,p1586#02	p.615#01	p.777r4c01
於	方+4	烏𣱏𤕘于亏扵	yú ㄩˊ	Be (copula). / Be, exist. / Preposition: in. / Preposition: from or to. / Preposition: compared to. / Preposition: to, for, towards. / Preposition: by (indicating passive tense). / Preposition: with, using. / Preposition: due to, because of. / Preposition: by, according to. / Connective: just as. / Auxiliary word, no meaning.	v3,p2175#02	p.481#11	p.622r2c03
乎	丿+4	虖	hū ㄏㄨ	(1.1) 語氣詞：表示疑問或反問，相當於「嗎」或「呢」。 Modal particle expressing questioning or a rhetorical question.	v1,p0036#08	p.82#07	p.47r3c03

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