正室

Chinese

		just (right); main; upright just (right); main; upright; straight; correct; principle; Chinese 1st month of year	room
simp. and trad. (正室)		正	室

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): zhèngshì, zhèngshǐ

(Zhuyin): ㄓㄥˋ ㄕˋ, ㄓㄥˋ ㄕˇ
Cantonese (Jyutping): zing³ sat¹
Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): chèng-sek / chèng-sit

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese, standard in Mainland and Taiwan)
  - Hanyu Pinyin: zhèngshì
  - Zhuyin: ㄓㄥˋ ㄕˋ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: jhèngshìh
  - Wade–Giles: chêng⁴-shih⁴
  - Yale: jèng-shr̀
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: jenqshyh
  - Palladius: чжэнши (čžɛnši)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʈ͡ʂɤŋ⁵¹⁻⁵³ ʂʐ̩⁵¹/
  - Homophones:
    ^edit
    ^edit
    政事
    正事
    正室
    正式
    正是
    正視 / 正视
- (Standard Chinese, variant in Mainland)
  - Hanyu Pinyin: zhèngshǐ
  - Zhuyin: ㄓㄥˋ ㄕˇ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: jhèngshǐh
  - Wade–Giles: chêng⁴-shih³
  - Yale: jèng-shř
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: jenqshyy
  - Palladius: чжэнши (čžɛnši)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʈ͡ʂɤŋ⁵¹ ʂʐ̩²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
  - Homophones:
    ^edit
    ^edit
    正史
    正室
    正矢
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: zing³ sat¹
  - Yale: jing sāt
  - Cantonese Pinyin: dzing³ sat⁷
  - Guangdong Romanization: jing³ sed¹
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sɪŋ³³ sɐt̚⁵/
Southern Min
- (Hokkien: General Taiwanese)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: chèng-sek
  - Tâi-lô: tsìng-sik
  - Phofsit Daibuun: zeangseg
  - Sinological IPA (Kaohsiung): /t͡siɪŋ²¹⁻⁴¹ siɪk̚³²/
  - Sinological IPA (Taipei): /t͡siɪŋ¹¹⁻⁵³ siɪk̚³²/
- (Hokkien: variant in Taiwan)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: chèng-sit
  - Tâi-lô: tsìng-sit
  - Phofsit Daibuun: zeangsid
  - Sinological IPA (Taipei): /t͡siɪŋ¹¹⁻⁵³ sit̚³²/
  - Sinological IPA (Kaohsiung): /t͡siɪŋ²¹⁻⁴¹ sit̚³²/

Noun

正室

(historical) legal wife
(historical) eldest son born by one's legal wife
(humorous) lawfully wedded wife (as opposed to a mistress)

Synonyms

(legal wife):

Dialectal synonyms of 大老婆 (“official wife; primary wife”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		正室, 正房, 正妻, 嫡妻, 正室, 正配, 元配, 髮妻
Northeastern Mandarin	Beijing	大婆兒, 大娘們兒
	Taiwan	大老婆
	Singapore	大老婆
Jiaoliao Mandarin	Yantai (Muping)	大婆子
Central Plains Mandarin	Luoyang	大婆兒, 大老婆
	Xi'an	大老婆
	Xuzhou	大婆兒, 大婆子, 大老婆
Lanyin Mandarin	Lanzhou	大老婆
Southwestern Mandarin	Chengdu	大老婆, 大婆子, 大婆娘
	Chengdu (Xindu)	大婆子
	Chengdu (Pidu)	大婆子, 大婆娘
	Chengdu (Wenjiang)	大婆子, 大婆娘
	Chengdu (Shuangliu)	大婆子, 大婆娘
	Chengdu (Xinjin)	大婆子
	Jintang	大婆子, 大婆娘
	Pengzhou	大婆子, 大婆娘
	Dujiangyan	大婆娘
	Chongzhou	大婆子, 大婆娘
	Dayi	大婆子, 大婆娘
	Pujiang	大婆子, 大婆娘
	Qionglai	大婆子
	Liuzhou	大婆
Jianghuai Mandarin	Nanjing	大老婆
Cantonese	Guangzhou	大婆
	Hong Kong	大婆
	Taishan	大婆
	Dongguan	大婆
Gan	Nanchang	大老婆
Hakka	Meixian	大婆
Huizhou	Jixi	大老嫗
Jin	Xinzhou	大婆子
Eastern Min	Fuzhou	大婆
Southern Min	Xiamen	大某
	Quanzhou	大某
	Jinjiang	大某
	Yongchun	大某
	Zhangzhou	大某, 大姐
	Singapore (Hokkien)	大某
	Manila (Hokkien)	大某
	Leizhou	大娘
Puxian Min	Putian	大房, 正房
Puxian Min	Xianyou	大房, 正房
Southern Pinghua	Nanning (Tingzi)	大婆
Wu	Shanghai (Chongming)	大老官
	Suzhou	大老媽
	Hangzhou	大老婆
	Wenzhou	正娘

Japanese

Kanji in this term
正	室
せい Grade: 1	しつ Grade: 2
on'yomi

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) せーしつ [sèéshítsú] (Heiban – [0])
IPA^(key): [se̞ːɕit͡sɨ]

Noun

正(せい)室(しつ) • (seishitsu)

one's legal wife (rather than a concubine)

Antonyms

側室(そくしつ) (sokushitsu)

References

“正室”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[1] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2026