天主

Chinese

		day; sky; heaven	to own; to host; master to own; to host; master; lord; primary
simp. and trad. (天主)		天	主

Etymology

Lord of Heaven (in Chinese folk religion)

Attested earliest in Records of the Grand Historian:

• 八神：一曰天主，祠天齊。天齊淵水，居臨菑南郊山下者。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

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  八神：一曰天主，祠天齐。天齐渊水，居临菑南郊山下者。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

  From: The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE, translated based on Burton Watson's version

  Bā shén: yī yuē tiānzhǔ, cí Tiānqí. Tiānqí yuānshuǐ, jū Línzī nánjiāo shān xià zhě. [Pinyin]

  Of the Eight Spirits, the first was called the Lord of Heaven; sacrifices to him were offered at the Navel of Heaven, which is the name of a spring situated at the foot of a mountain in the southern suburbs of the city of Linzi

God (in Christianity, chiefly Catholicism)

First attested in True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven (《天主實錄》), completed by Italian Jesuit priest and missionary Michele Ruggieri in 1584 (Wang, 2012), as a semantic readaptation of Chinese 天主 (Tiānzhǔ, “heavenly emperor; heavenly God”).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): Tiānzhǔ

  (Zhuyin): ㄊㄧㄢ ㄓㄨˇ

• Cantonese

  (Guangzhou–Hong Kong, Jyutping): tin¹ zyu²

  (Taishan, Wiktionary): hen¹ zi²

• Hakka

  (Sixian, PFS): Thiên-chú

  (Meixian, Guangdong): tiên¹ zu³

• Eastern Min (BUC): Tiĕng-ciō
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): Thian-chú / Thian-chí

  (Teochew, Peng'im): tiêng¹ zu² / tiang¹ zu²

• Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ¹thi-tsy

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: Tiānzhǔ
    • Zhuyin: ㄊㄧㄢ ㄓㄨˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: Tianjhǔ
    • Wade–Giles: Tʻien¹-chu³
    • Yale: Tyān-jǔ
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: Tianjuu
    • Palladius: Тяньчжу (Tjanʹčžu)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰi̯ɛn⁵⁵ ʈ͡ʂu²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: tin¹ zyu²
    • Yale: tīn jyú
    • Cantonese Pinyin: tin¹ dzy²
    • Guangdong Romanization: tin¹ ju²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰiːn⁵⁵ t͡syː³⁵/
  • (Taishanese, Taicheng)
    • Wiktionary: hen¹ zi²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /hen³³ t͡si⁵⁵/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: Thiên-chú
    • Hakka Romanization System: tien^ˊ zu^ˋ
    • Hagfa Pinyim: tian¹ zu³
    • Sinological IPA: /tʰi̯en²⁴ t͡su³¹/
  • (Meixian)
    • Guangdong: tiên¹ zu³
    • Sinological IPA: /tʰiɛn⁴⁴⁻³⁵ t͡su³¹/
• Eastern Min
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: Tiĕng-ciō
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰieŋ⁵⁵⁻⁵³ ^(t͡s-)ʒuo³³/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Thian-chú
    • Tâi-lô: Thian-tsú
    • Phofsit Daibuun: tienzuo
    • IPA (Xiamen): /tʰiɛn⁴⁴⁻²² t͡su⁵³/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /tʰiɛn³³ t͡su⁵⁵⁴/
    • IPA (Taipei): /tʰiɛn⁴⁴⁻³³ t͡su⁵³/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /tʰiɛn⁴⁴⁻³³ t͡su⁴¹/
  • (Hokkien: Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Thian-chí
    • Tâi-lô: Thian-tsí
    • Phofsit Daibuun: tiencie
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /tʰiɛn⁴⁴⁻²² t͡si⁵³/
  • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: tiêng¹ zu² / tiang¹ zu²
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: thieng tsú / thiang tsú
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰieŋ³³⁻²³ t͡su⁵²/, /tʰiaŋ³³⁻²³ t͡su⁵²/
• Wu
  • (Northern: Shanghai)
    • Wugniu: ¹thi-tsy
    • MiniDict: thi^平 tsy
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ¹thi-tsr
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /tʰi⁵⁵ t͡sz̩²¹/

Proper noun

天主

1. (Chinese folk religion) Lord of Heaven
2. (chiefly Catholicism) God, the Lord

   • 在起初天主創造了天地。 [MSC, trad.]
     在起初天主创造了天地。 [MSC, simp.]

     From: 思高聖經 (Studium Biblicum Version), 創世紀 (Genesis) 1:1

     Zài qǐchū Tiānzhǔ chuàngzào le tiāndì. [Pinyin]

     In the beginning God created heaven, and earth.

   • 又信惟一主——伊伊穌斯合鿠斯托斯——爲天主之獨一子。 [MSC, trad.]
     又信惟一主——伊伊稣斯合鿟斯托斯——为天主之独一子。 [MSC, simp.]

     From: 1863, 《東敎宗鑑》

     Yòu xìn wéiyī zhǔ — Yīyīsūsī Hélìsītuōsī — wéi Tiānzhǔ zhī dúyī zǐ. [Pinyin]

     And I believe [our] only lord – Jesus Christ – is God’s only son.

Synonyms

Terms for God in different branches of Christianity

Branch	Words edit
Protestant	上帝, 神, 真神
Roman Catholic	天主, 僚氏 Hokkien, historical
Eastern Orthodox	上帝

Derived terms

• 天主堂 (tiānzhǔtáng)
• 天主子 (Tiānzhǔzǐ)
• 天主教 (Tiānzhǔjiào)
• 天主教徒 (Tiānzhǔjiàotú)
• 天主教會／天主教会 (Tiānzhǔ Jiàohuì)
• 天主羔羊 (Tiānzhǔ Gāoyáng)
• 天主聖三／天主圣三 (Tiānzhǔ Shèngsān)

 

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (天主):

• → Japanese: 天主(てんしゅ) (tenshu)
• → Korean: 천주(天主) (cheonju)
• → Vietnamese: Thiên Chúa (天主)

Others:

• → Manchu: ᠠᠪᡴᠠᡳ
  ᡝᠵᡝᠨ (abkai ejen) (calque)

Japanese

Kanji in this term
天	主
てん Grade: 1	しゅ Grade: 3
on'yomi

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 天主 (then tsyu^X).

Earliest attested in Japanese no later than 1581. It may or may not be coincidental that Japanese 天主(てんしゅ) (Tenshu) was coined to denote the Christian God around the same time as when Chinese 天主 was adopted for the same purpose.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) てんしゅ [téꜜǹshù] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [tẽ̞ɰ̃ɕɨ]

Proper noun

天(てん)主(しゅ) • (Tenshu) 

1. (Christianity) the Lord of Heaven; God

Korean

Hanja in this term
天	主

Proper noun

天主 • (Cheonju) (hangeul 천주)

1. hanja form^? of 천주 (“the Lord of Heaven; God”)

Vietnamese

chữ Hán Nôm in this term
天	主

Proper noun

天主

1. chữ Hán form of Thiên Chúa (“God, the Lord of Heaven”).