推敲

Chinese
push; refuse (responsibility); shove
 
extort; knock; to strike
extort; knock; to strike; to knock (at a door); to hit
simp. and trad.
(推敲)		 推 敲
Literally: “to push or to knock”.

Etymology

From the story of the Tang dynasty poet Jia Dao (779–843). Legend has it that one day while he was riding on his donkey, he was deliberating over the following line in his poem:

鳥宿池邊樹，僧推月下門。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
鸟宿池边树，僧推月下门。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
Niǎo sù chí biān shù, sēng tuī yuè xià mén. [Pinyin]
Birds built their nests by a serene pond up the tree;
Beneath the Moon, a monk pushes on the door wooden.

He was pondering whether the 推 (“to push”) should be replaced by 敲 (“to knock”).

In fact, he was so engrossed in his deliberation that he did not notice an official's convoy coming, and ran straight into it. He was then taken for questioning on why he failed to avoid the convoy, and he explained that he was deep in thought about a poem he composed. The official whom Jia ran into was Han Yu, a famous Tang dynasty essayist and poet. After deliberation, Han said 敲 (“to knock”) would be a better word choice in this verse, since it highlights the quietness of the night. Jia regarded Han as his “one-character teacher” (一字師), followed his advice, and finalised verses of the poem.

Pronunciation

Verb

推敲

  1. to deliberate; to think over; to give a thought to; to weigh up; to scrutinize
    經不起推敲／经不起推敲  ―  jīngbùqǐ tuīqiāo  ―  to be unable to stand up to scrutiny
    反覆推敲／反复推敲  ―  fǎnfù tuīqiāo  ―  to repeatedly scrutinize

Synonyms

Japanese
Kanji in this term
推 敲
すい
Grade: 6		 こう
Hyōgaiji
on’yomi kan’on

Pronunciation

Noun

推(すい)敲(こう) • (suikō) ←すいかう (suikau)?

  1. revising, polishing of a text
    推(すい)敲(こう)に推(すい)敲(こう)を重(かさ)ねた。
    Suikō ni suikō o kasaneta.
    We made revision on top of revision.

Verb

推(すい)敲(こう)する • (suikō suru) ←すいかう (suikau)?transitive suru (stem 推(すい)敲(こう)し (suikō shi), past 推(すい)敲(こう)した (suikō shita))

  1. revise, polish a text
    Synonym: 練り直す (nerinaosu)

Conjugation
Conjugation of "推敲する" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs.)
Katsuyōkei ("stem forms")
Mizenkei ("imperfective") 推敲し すいこうし suikō shi
Ren’yōkei ("continuative") 推敲し すいこうし suikō shi
Shūshikei ("terminal") 推敲する すいこうする suikō suru
Rentaikei ("attributive") 推敲する すいこうする suikō suru
Kateikei ("hypothetical") 推敲すれ すいこうすれ suikō sure
Meireikei ("imperative") 推敲せよ¹
推敲しろ²		 すいこうせよ¹
すいこうしろ²		 suikō seyo¹
suikō shiro²
Key constructions
Passive 推敲される すいこうされる suikō sareru
Causative 推敲させる
推敲さす		 すいこうさせる
すいこうさす		 suikō saseru
suikō sasu
Potential 推敲できる すいこうできる suikō dekiru
Volitional 推敲しよう すいこうしよう suikō shiyō
Negative 推敲しない すいこうしない suikō shinai
Negative continuative 推敲せず すいこうせず suikō sezu
Formal 推敲します すいこうします suikō shimasu
Perfective 推敲した すいこうした suikō shita
Conjunctive 推敲して すいこうして suikō shite
Hypothetical conditional 推敲すれば すいこうすれば suikō sureba
¹ Written imperative

² Spoken imperative

References
  1. NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK Publishing, →ISBN
  2. Yamada, Tadao et al., editors (2011), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Seventh edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  3. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  • 2002, Ineko Kondō; Fumi Takano; Mary E Althaus; et. al., Shogakukan Progressive Japanese-English Dictionary, Third Edition, Tokyo: Shōgakukan, →ISBN.

Korean
Hanja in this term
推敲

Noun

推敲 • (toego) (hangeul 퇴고)

  1. Hanja form? of 퇴고.
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