<p><a href="http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/7993/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">甫</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>(1) just; only (2) <strong>one's courtesy name</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>王謙言山介甫序</p>
<p>姓: 王</p>
<p>名: 謙言</p>
<p>字: 山介  = 山介(甫)</p>
<p>序 = sign</p>
<p>氏 in 范陽盧氏、清河崔氏 is either the clan's name (same as 姓) or a woman's maiden surname</p>
<p>Which means 范陽盧氏 can mean &quot;the 盧 clan of 范陽&quot; or &quot;a 范陽's woman whose maiden surname was 盧&quot;</p>
<p><strong>Edit:</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://cd.hwxnet.com/view/icjgbobdcglifjoc.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">公甫</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>甫: 古代在男子名字下加的美称，后指人的表字</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is not logical to add a 美称 in one's own signature, therefore, 甫 here is more likely to mean 人的表字 (one's courtesy name) than a &quot;美称&quot; (honorific)</p>
<p>If it was an honorific, it would be 公甫 instead of just 甫</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-11-02T04:48:21.450Z
Thanks for the answer. Do you know other examples of 2-character 字+甫 except for 排行+单字+甫?
lilysirius
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-11-01T04:34:02.257Z
2022-11-01T04:53:25.450Z
2022-11-01T04:53:25.450Z
Tang Ho
<p>I am reading some county document from Qing Dynasty. Most of the prefaces were signed by 年號+（年）+干支紀年+（月）+籍貫+姓+名+（字）. For example, 康熙(年號)丙寅(干支紀年)會稽(籍貫)徐(姓)世法(名)序, 道光(年號)二十九年（年）歲次巳酉(干支紀年)十月上浣（月）皖江(籍貫)劉(姓)慶遠(名)序.</p>
<p>Yet there's a confusing use of 甫 and an familiar use of 氏.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>One is signed by ...王謙言山介<strong>甫</strong>序. 王 is his family name, 謙言 is his name and 山介 is his 字. <strong>Then what does 甫 mean?</strong> Is it used as 男子的美稱? But it seems weird to use it for oneself or after a two-character 字. Or does it goes with 序? Yet I didn't find any dictionary entry or suitable google search results.</p>
</li>
<li><p>The other is signed by ...雲間陸箕永二水<strong>氏</strong>序. 雲間 is his 籍貫, 陸 is his family name, 陸箕 is his name and 二水 is his 字. After 姓 and 氏 had merged, the character 氏 is normally used after one's 姓, in this case 陸氏, but it does seem unofficial. <strong>Is there a convention to add 氏 after 姓+名+字, after 姓+名 or simply after 姓 for a single person <s>for official usages</s>, not restricted to signing?</strong> If so, does 籍貫 has to be paired, as we often see 范陽盧氏、清河崔氏 etc? But these cases refer to a whole large extended family, not a single person.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>PS: <em>I've deleted &quot;official context&quot; from the original question since it doesn't seem to be what makes the difference.</em></p>
<hr />
<p><strong>UPDATE</strong></p>
<p>I've read something from 《中国人的姓名文化与命名艺术》.</p>
<p><strong>甫</strong>, 男子的美称, originally 父. It's essentially connected with one's 字. In some classics, we can see 甫xx, that is that person has 字 of xx.</p>
<p>甫 and 父 can be used interchangeably. For example, 王安石 and his brothers had 字 x甫, and he called them x甫 or x父.</p>
<p>甫 is used as a 衬字 in 字. In Zhou Dynasty, the template of 字 is 排行+单字+甫, e.g. Confucius is 仲尼父. The short-hand is 尼父. After turning 50, he could also be called 仲尼.</p>
<p>This tradition is abandoned after Zhou and 字 became predominantly 2 characters. 衬字 could also be used. Some incorporate 排行, some keep 甫. For example, 曹操，字孟(排行)德；王安石，字介甫.</p>
<p>Some paper says that the legacy of 甫 after a 2-character 字 is kept but doesn't give evidence. I find it questionable. 3-character 字 are very rarely used after Han Dynasty, and the cases I see are all transliterations and used by non-Han ethnics.</p>
<p>However, there is indeed a famous example from 《核舟记》, 虞山王毅叔远甫刻. 王毅, 字叔远. But this case is a bit coincidental, since 叔(排行)远甫 happens to follow the Zhou tradition and does not necessarily mean the 字 山介 can be traditionally used the same way. There's a paper which explains 甫 as 才 <em>just</em>, saying it was just engraved. The argument is that 字 cannot be used to address oneself. I find it hard to believe. On the one hand, there are cases where 字 is indeed used by famous literati to call oneself （古人能否称自己的字？ - 不诉离殇的回答 - 知乎
<a href="https://www.zhihu.com/question/37522182/answer/2542179133" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.zhihu.com/question/37522182/answer/2542179133</a> ）. On the other hand, give 甫's close connection with 字, even if the author wanted to write <em>just</em>, he was likely to choose another word to avoid confusion.</p>
<p><strong>So far my question of 甫 is partly resolved. The unresolved part can be specified to, is there a legacy to use 甫 after one's 字 (almost all 2-character)? If so, under what conditions can it be used?</strong></p>
<p><strong>氏</strong>, is a synonym to 族, which was essentially the name of the tribe, and the later the name of the tribal alliance. In Zhou Dynasty, country/nation was established, and 国号 replaces 氏. People then recycled 氏 and used it to refer to branches of 姓. After Warring States, 姓 and 氏 merged. People 以氏为姓 and 姓氏 has since become an integral part of one's full name. So using the character 氏 after one's 姓 is easy to understand. 陆氏 is literally 以陆为姓氏（的人/家族）, refers either to a single person or a clan. For example, 他是范阳卢氏, referring to a single person, 他是范阳卢氏之子, referring to the clan. <s>In this case 籍贯 should be used together.</s> Counterexample from 《史记》今蒙氏，秦之大臣谋士也. For women, their names are not important in feudal dynasties, often called 姓+“氏”, e.g. 卢氏, 籍贯 is often not added if not famous.</p>
<p>After knowing this, it makes the usage of 陸箕永二水氏(姓+名+字+“氏”) even weirder to me.</p>

<vocabulary><culture><literary-chinese>
What are the usages of 甫 and 氏 after names for a single person?
# What are the usages of 甫 and 氏 after names for a single person?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-11-01)

I am reading some county document from Qing Dynasty. Most of the prefaces were signed by 年號+（年）+干支紀年+（月）+籍貫+姓+名+（字）. For example, 康熙(年號)丙寅(干支紀年)會稽(籍貫)徐(姓)世法(名)序, 道光(年號)二十九年（年）歲次巳酉(干支紀年)十月上浣（月）皖江(籍貫)劉(姓)慶遠(名)序.

Yet there's a confusing use of 甫 and an familiar use of 氏.

1. One is signed by ...王謙言山介**甫**序. 王 is his family name, 謙言 is his name and 山介 is his 字. **Then what does 甫 mean?** Is it used as 男子的美稱? But it seems weird to use it for oneself or after a two-character 字. Or does it goes with 序? Yet I didn't find any dictionary entry or suitable google search results.
2. The other is signed by ...雲間陸箕永二水**氏**序. 雲間 is his 籍貫, 陸 is his family name, 陸箕 is his name and 二水 is his 字. After 姓 and 氏 had merged, the character 氏 is normally used after one's 姓, in this case 陸氏, but it does seem unofficial. **Is there a convention to add 氏 after 姓+名+字, after 姓+名 or simply after 姓 for a single person ~~for official usages~~, not restricted to signing?** If so, does 籍貫 has to be paired, as we often see 范陽盧氏、清河崔氏 etc? But these cases refer to a whole large extended family, not a single person.

PS: *I've deleted "official context" from the original question since it doesn't seem to be what makes the difference.*

---

**UPDATE**

I've read something from 《中国人的姓名文化与命名艺术》.

**甫**, 男子的美称, originally 父. It's essentially connected with one's 字. In some classics, we can see 甫xx, that is that person has 字 of xx.

甫 and 父 can be used interchangeably. For example, 王安石 and his brothers had 字 x甫, and he called them x甫 or x父.

甫 is used as a 衬字 in 字. In Zhou Dynasty, the template of 字 is 排行+单字+甫, e.g. Confucius is 仲尼父. The short-hand is 尼父. After turning 50, he could also be called 仲尼.

This tradition is abandoned after Zhou and 字 became predominantly 2 characters. 衬字 could also be used. Some incorporate 排行, some keep 甫. For example, 曹操，字孟(排行)德；王安石，字介甫.

Some paper says that the legacy of 甫 after a 2-character 字 is kept but doesn't give evidence. I find it questionable. 3-character 字 are very rarely used after Han Dynasty, and the cases I see are all transliterations and used by non-Han ethnics.

However, there is indeed a famous example from 《核舟记》, 虞山王毅叔远甫刻. 王毅, 字叔远. But this case is a bit coincidental, since 叔(排行)远甫 happens to follow the Zhou tradition and does not necessarily mean the 字 山介 can be traditionally used the same way. There's a paper which explains 甫 as 才 *just*, saying it was just engraved. The argument is that 字 cannot be used to address oneself. I find it hard to believe. On the one hand, there are cases where 字 is indeed used by famous literati to call oneself （古人能否称自己的字？ - 不诉离殇的回答 - 知乎
<https://www.zhihu.com/question/37522182/answer/2542179133> ）. On the other hand, give 甫's close connection with 字, even if the author wanted to write *just*, he was likely to choose another word to avoid confusion.

**So far my question of 甫 is partly resolved. The unresolved part can be specified to, is there a legacy to use 甫 after one's 字 (almost all 2-character)? If so, under what conditions can it be used?**

**氏**, is a synonym to 族, which was essentially the name of the tribe, and the later the name of the tribal alliance. In Zhou Dynasty, country/nation was established, and 国号 replaces 氏. People then recycled 氏 and used it to refer to branches of 姓. After Warring States, 姓 and 氏 merged. People 以氏为姓 and 姓氏 has since become an integral part of one's full name. So using the character 氏 after one's 姓 is easy to understand. 陆氏 is literally 以陆为姓氏（的人/家族）, refers either to a single person or a clan. For example, 他是范阳卢氏, referring to a single person, 他是范阳卢氏之子, referring to the clan. ~~In this case 籍贯 should be used together.~~ Counterexample from 《史记》今蒙氏，秦之大臣谋士也. For women, their names are not important in feudal dynasties, often called 姓+“氏”, e.g. 卢氏, 籍贯 is often not added if not famous.

After knowing this, it makes the usage of 陸箕永二水氏(姓+名+字+“氏”) even weirder to me.

**Tags:** vocabulary, culture, literary-chinese


---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2022-11-01. Score: 2

[甫](http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/7993/)

> (1) just; only (2) **one's courtesy name**

王謙言山介甫序

姓: 王

名: 謙言

字: 山介 = 山介(甫)

序 = sign

氏 in 范陽盧氏、清河崔氏 is either the clan's name (same as 姓) or a woman's maiden surname

Which means 范陽盧氏 can mean "the 盧 clan of 范陽" or "a 范陽's woman whose maiden surname was 盧"

**Edit:**

[公甫](https://cd.hwxnet.com/view/icjgbobdcglifjoc.html)

> 甫: 古代在男子名字下加的美称，后指人的表字

It is not logical to add a 美称 in one's own signature, therefore, 甫 here is more likely to mean 人的表字 (one's courtesy name) than a "美称" (honorific)

If it was an honorific, it would be 公甫 instead of just 甫

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks for the answer. Do you know other examples of 2-character 字+甫 except for 排行+单字+甫?  

---

