仕

仕 primarily means to serve under a ruler or in public office, extending to general meanings of employment, service, or duty.

It signifies both the act of serving (as a verb) and the status of a servant or official (as a noun).

Ideogrammatic compound and phono-semantic hybrid composed of:

人 (사람 인) — semantic element, indicating a person or human action.

士 (선비 사) — phonetic element, representing the sound sa and the notion of a gentleman, scholar, or official.

Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字):

「仕，事也。从人，士聲。」

“仕 means to serve (事). Composed of 人 (person) and the sound 士 (scholar).”

Thus, 仕 depicts a person engaged in service under the direction of superiors — specifically, a scholar entering government service.

In modern Korean, 仕 appears almost exclusively in the compound 奉仕 (봉사) — “service; voluntary work.”

仕官 (사관) — to become an official; to serve in government

仕宦 (사환) — officialdom; holding a public post

出仕 (출사) — to enter service, to begin an official career

奉仕 (봉사) — to serve, to render service (especially voluntary or respectful)

仕女 (사녀) — court lady; refined woman (in classical painting titles)

仕者 (사자) — one who serves, an official

仕途 (사도) — official career, bureaucratic path

In Japanese, it remains highly productive in verbs like:

仕上げる (shiageru) — to finish, complete

仕掛ける (shikakeru) — to set up, start

仕草 (shigusa) — gesture, behavior

仕様 (shiyō) — method, way (also borrowed into Korean “사양,” meaning “specifications”)

In Chinese, it still retains its classical sense of to serve as an official (仕官, 出仕).

The root meaning of 仕 — “to serve” — expanded historically in three related directions:

Public service: to serve the ruler or state; to hold an office (官職).

Personal duty: to perform one’s work or obligations.

Courtesy service: to attend, assist, or render voluntary service.

In early Confucian texts, 仕 had an ethical dimension:

「學而優則仕。」 (Lunyu, Analects 19:13)

“When one excels in learning, one should enter service.”

Here, 仕 represents not mere employment, but the Confucian duty to serve society through moral governance.

Cultural and philosophical meaning:

In Confucian thought, 仕 was central to the concept of the scholar-official (士大夫) — one who studies not for profit but for service.

The moral tension between withdrawal from office (退) and service in office (仕) defines a key theme in the Analects and Mencius.

「達則兼濟天下，窮則獨善其身。」 (Mencius, Jin Xin)

“When in office, help the world; when not, cultivate oneself” — Here, 達則仕 (when successful, serve in office) contrasts with 窮則退 (when frustrated, withdraw).

Thus, 仕 embodies duty, loyalty, and moral responsibility, linking individual cultivation to public ethics.

In Buddhist and Daoist contexts, the term could also signify worldly attachment — a life of service and engagement opposed to monastic withdrawal.

Symbolic interpretation:

仕, showing a person (人) beside a scholar (士), symbolizes the scholar entering service — the uniting of learning and action.

In classical usage, 仕 represented the ideal of Confucian public service (仕道) — serving the state with virtue and loyalty.

It embodies the Confucian ideal that knowledge must culminate in service — that learning (學) is perfected through duty (仕).

「士以仕為榮，以退為恥。」

“The scholar takes service as honor, and withdrawal as shame.”

(Ancient aphorism reflecting early bureaucratic ethos.)

At the same time, it carries an implicit tension — between moral autonomy and political obedience, a theme deeply explored in classical Chinese philosophy.