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In classical Chinese philology, ''shengxun'' (聲訓 "voice explanation") or ''yinxun'' (音訓 "sound explanation") is the practice of explaining a character by using a homophone or near-homophone. The practice is ancient, and can be seen in pre-Qin texts. Xu Shen, author of the monumental ''Shuowen Jiezi'', employed ''shengxun''. For example, when Xu explained the word "ghost", he wrote:
歸 ("to return to"; ''guī'') and 鬼("ghost"; ''guǐ'') are near-homophones. (A similar explanation of the word can be found in the earlier ''Erya''.) The ancient Chinese dictionary ''Shiming'' is noted for using ''shengxun'' for most of its definitions. ''Shengxun'' can be highly fanciful, and often results in folk etymology. However, the practice points to the idea of "cognate characters" (同源字) or what Bernhard Karlgren called "word families". ==References== *''Zhongguo da baike quanshu''. First Edition. Beijing; Shanghai: Zhongguo da baike quanshu chubanshe. 1980-1993. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Shengxun」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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