媼神

Chinese

		old woman	God; unusual; mysterious God; unusual; mysterious; soul; spirit; divine essence; lively; spiritual being
trad. (媼神)		媼	神
simp. (媪神)		媪	神

Alternate forms

媼 / 媪 (ǎo)

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): ǎoshén

(Zhuyin): ㄠˇ ㄕㄣˊ

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: ǎoshén
  - Zhuyin: ㄠˇ ㄕㄣˊ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: ǎoshén
  - Wade–Giles: ao³-shên²
  - Yale: ǎu-shén
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: aoshern
  - Palladius: аошэнь (aošɛnʹ)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ˀɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ ʂən³⁵/

Middle Chinese: 'awX zyin

Rime
Character	媼	神
Reading #	1/1	1/1
Initial (聲)	影 (34)	船 (27)
Final (韻)	豪 (89)	眞 (43)
Tone (調)	Rising (X)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	I	III
Fanqie	烏晧切	食鄰切
Baxter	'awX	zyin
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ʔɑu^X/	/ʑiɪn/
Pan Wuyun	/ʔɑu^X/	/ʑin/
Shao Rongfen	/ʔɑu^X/	/ʑjen/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ʔaw^X/	/ʑin/
Li Rong	/ʔɑu^X/	/d͡ʑiĕn/
Wang Li	/ɑu^X/	/d͡ʑĭĕn/
Bernhard Karlgren	/ʔɑu^X/	/d͡ʑʰi̯ĕn/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	ǎo	shén
Expected Cantonese Reflex	ou²	san⁴

Old Chinese
(Baxter–Sagart): /*ʔˤuʔ Cə.li[n]/

(Zhengzhang): /*quːʔ hlin/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	媼	神
Reading #	1/1	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	ǎo	shén
Middle Chinese	‹ ʔaw^X ›	‹ zyin ›
Old Chinese	/*ʔˁuʔ/	/*Cə.li[n]/
English	old woman	spirit
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	媼	神
Reading #	1/1	1/1
No.	12967	11245
Phonetic component	昷	申
Rime group	幽	眞
Rime subdivision	1	1
Corresponding MC rime	襖	神
Old Chinese	/*quːʔ/	/*hlin/

Noun

媼神

(archaic) Houtu, a Daoist earth goddess [Han dynasty]
- 111 A.D., “郊祀歌”, in 漢書 [Book of Han]‎^[1], 禮樂志:
  惟泰元尊，媼神蕃釐，經緯天地，作成四時。
  Wéi tài yuán zūn, ǎo shén bō xī, jīngwěi tiāndì, zuòchéng sì shí.
  She is the Most Venerable Great Origin, Aoshen (Houtu) bestows prolific blessings. She structures Heaven and Earth, and brings to completion the Four Seasons.
- c. 17th Century [1270], “禮七”, in 朱子語類 [Classified Conversations of Master Zhu]‎^[2], 祭:
  徽宗時分祭，祀后土皇地谀，漢時謂之『媼神』。
  "Huīzōng shí fēn jì, sì hòu tǔ huáng de yú, hàn shí wèi zhī “ǎo shén”."
  "During the reign of Emperor Huizong, sacrifices were offered to Houtu, who was called "ǎoshén" in the Han Dynasty."

Synonyms

后土 (hòutǔ)
地母