<p>For 栅极 (as well as related terms like 光栅 <em>grating</em>), the change of tone from an expected <em>shàn</em> to <em><strong>shān</strong></em> in Mainland Standard Mandarin is easily explained by 看边读边. As a literary, and indeed a technical word, 栅极 was most commonly encountered in written form, and if we compare the <a href="https://lingua.mtsu.edu/chinese-computing/statistics/char/list.php?Which=MO" rel="nofollow noreferrer">frequency of the pronunciations</a> of all the other characters with 删 [abbreviated to 冊] as a phonetic on the right, this 看边读边 becomes clear.</p>
<ul>
<li>珊 <em>shān</em> freq. rank 2555</li>
<li>删 <em>shān</em> freq. rank 2780</li>
<li>栅 (expected <em>shàn</em>, but various pron.) freq. rank 2995</li>
<li>姗 <em>shān</em> freq. rank 3883</li>
<li>跚 <em>shān</em> freq. rank 3888</li>
</ul>
<p>Note that the <a href="https://www.moedict.tw/%E6%9F%B5%E6%A5%B5" rel="nofollow noreferrer">official 台灣國語 Taiwanese Mandarin pronunciation</a> of 柵極 uses <em>zhà</em> instead, and <em>shàn</em> (with fourth tone) is kept as the (regularly-derived!) literary pronunciation, but in practice never used. Cantonese on the other hand <a href="https://youtu.be/VVF7OpwuHN0?t=27" rel="nofollow noreferrer">uses</a> <em>saan1</em>, the regular equivalent to Mainland Mandarin <em>shān</em>.</p>
<p>Interestingly enough, there is an attestation of 柵極 in <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=zmvVAAAAMAAJ&amp;q=%E6%9F%B5%E6%A5%B5&amp;dq=%E6%9F%B5%E6%A5%B5&amp;hl=en&amp;newbks=1&amp;newbks_redir=1&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwj7hO-qwqf3AhWugVwKHQr9AZ8Q6AF6BAgCEAI" rel="nofollow noreferrer">a 1930 issue of the periodical 《東方雜誌》</a> where it is unambiguously in 白話文/國語 but referring to electrical grids.</p>
<p>The Mandarin reading <em><strong>cè</strong></em> is more-or-less directly imported from Cantonese <em>caak3</em>, as those placenames are in Guangdong. Note that the regular derivation of Middle Chinese 楚革切 would be <em>cak1</em> in Cantonese; <em>caak3</em> appears to be a colloquial version (compare 惜 <em>sek3</em> colloquial vs <em>sik1</em> literary) that is used. When imported back into Mandarin, one can only assume phonetic similarity; even so, the resulting phoneme <em>cè</em>  is fairly close to the theoretical regular reflex in Mandarin <em>che</em>. Nevertheless, in other cases, the <em>caak3</em> reading in Cantonese is functionally equivalent to the <em>zhà</em> reading of Mainland Mandarin.</p>
<p>So, where did the <em><strong>zhà</strong></em> reading come from then? According to <a href="https://wu-chinese.com/bbs/forum.php?mod=viewthread&amp;tid=213492" rel="nofollow noreferrer">a short 2020 article</a> from <a href="https://r.cnki.net/KNavi/newspaper/search/WHBN/YYWZ?naviId=" rel="nofollow noreferrer">语言文字周报</a> by 楼启明, it is a 19th-century colloquialism. The
《增廣字學舉隅》 from 1874 states (bold mine):</p>
<blockquote>
<p>栅。楚各切，音策。竖木以立栅，柴也。<strong>俗读若乍</strong>。</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Even in Thomas Wade's 1867 《語言自邇集》 <em>A progressive course designed to assist the student of colloquial Chinese</em>, as well as having the regularly-derived pronunciation <em>shàn</em> (page 100 of the &quot;Peking Syllabary section), but also <em>zhá</em> (on page 31):</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/gNgjh.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/gNgjh.png" alt="Peking syllabary" /></a></p>
<p>According to 楼启明's analysis, the colloquial pronunciation <em>zhà</em> is actually under the influence of 折 &gt; 闸 ~ 乍. The tonal uncertainty is characteristic of many 入声 &quot;checked tone&quot; phonemes in the Beijing dialect.</p>
<p>Additionally, an explanation for the <em>shi</em> of 大柵欄 and <em>shā</em> in Beijing dialect is posited, from Manchu &quot;沙拉&quot; meaning coral/treasure (though when I look it up <a href="http://manchu.work/dicts/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a> I get ᠰᡠᡵᡠ <em>suru</em>).</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-23T19:47:25.133Z
楚革切 already appears in 唐韻。This is what 康熙字典 says about 柵：【唐韻】楚革切【集韻】【韻會】測革切【正韻】恥革切音策【說文】作柵編樹木也【廣韻】豎木以立柵也。
joehua
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-22T11:20:04.190Z
2022-04-22T11:20:04.190Z
Michaelyus
<p>What is the deal with the readings of 栅 (柵) and how do they appear?</p>
<p>According to modern dictionaries (such as the 漢語大字典 2nd Ed.), there are three readings for 栅?</p>
<ul>
<li><p><strong>zhà</strong>, in the meaning of &quot;fence, palisade&quot;. That's the historical meaning, but the reading does not match. The <em>Guangyun</em> has three fanqie, 所晏切 (shàn), 測戟切 (chi of indeterminate tone), 楚革切 (che of indeterminate tone). Neither matches. Apparently, 栅 in the meaning of fence can also be read shān, which is closer, but still not an exact match.</p>
</li>
<li><p><strong>shān</strong>, in the word shānjí 栅极 &quot;grid&quot;.</p>
</li>
<li><p>(<strong>cè</strong>, in one placename.)</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Even if we abandon cè as an idiosyncratic toponymic development, the two main readins are still bewildering. How did zhà appear? Why did shān persist in one unique word, &quot;grid&quot;? And why even shān does not match in tone with the Middle Chinese predecessor? Are modern zhà and shān even the same word as was recorded in the <em>Guangyun</em>, or are they some totally new words that were just attached to the old character 栅 just through the reason of similar meaning?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-22T07:51:04.673Z
Not to mention 大栅栏 (大柵欄) _Dàshilànr_ in Beijing, where it is pronounced with a neutral tone "shi".
Michaelyus
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-22T16:50:31.437Z
@Michaelyus Which, funnily, is offered in the Apple Mandarin-Japanese dictionary (apparently 超級クラウン中日辞典) as Dàzhàlán, with Dàshílàn given only as a variant.
Alexander Z.
<mandarin><characters><pronunciation><topolect><reading>
The readings of 栅
# The readings of 栅

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-04-21)

What is the deal with the readings of 栅 (柵) and how do they appear?

According to modern dictionaries (such as the 漢語大字典 2nd Ed.), there are three readings for 栅?

* **zhà**, in the meaning of "fence, palisade". That's the historical meaning, but the reading does not match. The *Guangyun* has three fanqie, 所晏切 (shàn), 測戟切 (chi of indeterminate tone), 楚革切 (che of indeterminate tone). Neither matches. Apparently, 栅 in the meaning of fence can also be read shān, which is closer, but still not an exact match.
* **shān**, in the word shānjí 栅极 "grid".
* (**cè**, in one placename.)

Even if we abandon cè as an idiosyncratic toponymic development, the two main readins are still bewildering. How did zhà appear? Why did shān persist in one unique word, "grid"? And why even shān does not match in tone with the Middle Chinese predecessor? Are modern zhà and shān even the same word as was recorded in the *Guangyun*, or are they some totally new words that were just attached to the old character 栅 just through the reason of similar meaning?

**Tags:** mandarin, characters, pronunciation, topolect, reading

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Not to mention 大栅栏 (大柵欄) _Dàshilànr_ in Beijing, where it is pronounced with a neutral tone "shi".  
> **username_0**: @username_1 Which, funnily, is offered in the Apple Mandarin-Japanese dictionary (apparently 超級クラウン中日辞典) as Dàzhàlán, with Dàshílàn given only as a variant.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2022-04-22. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

For 栅极 (as well as related terms like 光栅 *grating*), the change of tone from an expected *shàn* to ***shān*** in Mainland Standard Mandarin is easily explained by 看边读边. As a literary, and indeed a technical word, 栅极 was most commonly encountered in written form, and if we compare the [frequency of the pronunciations](https://lingua.mtsu.edu/chinese-computing/statistics/char/list.php?Which=MO) of all the other characters with 删 [abbreviated to 冊] as a phonetic on the right, this 看边读边 becomes clear.

* 珊 *shān* freq. rank 2555
* 删 *shān* freq. rank 2780
* 栅 (expected *shàn*, but various pron.) freq. rank 2995
* 姗 *shān* freq. rank 3883
* 跚 *shān* freq. rank 3888

Note that the [official 台灣國語 Taiwanese Mandarin pronunciation](https://www.moedict.tw/%E6%9F%B5%E6%A5%B5) of 柵極 uses *zhà* instead, and *shàn* (with fourth tone) is kept as the (regularly-derived!) literary pronunciation, but in practice never used. Cantonese on the other hand [uses](https://youtu.be/VVF7OpwuHN0?t=27) *saan1*, the regular equivalent to Mainland Mandarin *shān*.

Interestingly enough, there is an attestation of 柵極 in [a 1930 issue of the periodical 《東方雜誌》](https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=zmvVAAAAMAAJ&q=%E6%9F%B5%E6%A5%B5&dq=%E6%9F%B5%E6%A5%B5&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&printsec=frontcover&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj7hO-qwqf3AhWugVwKHQr9AZ8Q6AF6BAgCEAI) where it is unambiguously in 白話文/國語 but referring to electrical grids.

The Mandarin reading ***cè*** is more-or-less directly imported from Cantonese *caak3*, as those placenames are in Guangdong. Note that the regular derivation of Middle Chinese 楚革切 would be *cak1* in Cantonese; *caak3* appears to be a colloquial version (compare 惜 *sek3* colloquial vs *sik1* literary) that is used. When imported back into Mandarin, one can only assume phonetic similarity; even so, the resulting phoneme *cè* is fairly close to the theoretical regular reflex in Mandarin *che*. Nevertheless, in other cases, the *caak3* reading in Cantonese is functionally equivalent to the *zhà* reading of Mainland Mandarin.

So, where did the ***zhà*** reading come from then? According to [a short 2020 article](https://wu-chinese.com/bbs/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=213492) from [语言文字周报](https://r.cnki.net/KNavi/newspaper/search/WHBN/YYWZ?naviId=) by 楼启明, it is a 19th-century colloquialism. The
《增廣字學舉隅》 from 1874 states (bold mine):

> 栅。楚各切，音策。竖木以立栅，柴也。**俗读若乍**。

Even in Thomas Wade's 1867 《語言自邇集》 *A progressive course designed to assist the student of colloquial Chinese*, as well as having the regularly-derived pronunciation *shàn* (page 100 of the "Peking Syllabary section), but also *zhá* (on page 31):

[![Peking syllabary](https://i.sstatic.net/gNgjh.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/gNgjh.png)

According to 楼启明's analysis, the colloquial pronunciation *zhà* is actually under the influence of 折 > 闸 ~ 乍. The tonal uncertainty is characteristic of many 入声 "checked tone" phonemes in the Beijing dialect.

Additionally, an explanation for the *shi* of 大柵欄 and *shā* in Beijing dialect is posited, from Manchu "沙拉" meaning coral/treasure (though when I look it up [here](http://manchu.work/dicts/) I get ᠰᡠᡵᡠ *suru*).

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: 楚革切 already appears in 唐韻。This is what 康熙字典 says about 柵：【唐韻】楚革切【集韻】【韻會】測革切【正韻】恥革切音策【說文】作柵編樹木也【廣韻】豎木以立柵也。  

---

