pronunciation of 骰子

[murrayjames]

How should I pronounce 骰子 in 掷骰子赌博 ?

 

I checked online but am still unsure. 现代汉语规范词典 and ABC Chinese-English Dictionary list shǎizi and tóuzi as acceptable pronunciations. 百度百科 recommends tóuzi, stating that shǎizi is commonly used but incorrect.

[Publius]

《现代汉语词典》(第7版)：

【骰子】 tóu·zi 〈方〉［名］色子(shǎi·zi)。

【色子】 shǎi·zi ［名］一种游戏用具或赌具，用骨头、木头等制成的立方体小块，六面分刻一、二、三、四、五、六点。有的地区叫骰子(tóu·zi)。

 

So the official position is that 骰子(tóu·zi) is dialectal while 色子(shǎi·zi) is the standard spelling/pronunciation.

 

Unofficially I think that unless you are taking an exam or you have reason to believe that mispronouncing 骰子 will affect your career, you should always stick to shǎizi -- because that thing is called shǎizi; if you start to call it tóuzi, people will not understand you.

 

And let's be practical. What is commonly used is correct, or will be, eventually. As I have mentioned here more than once, when I was in school, the "correct" pronunciation of 呆板 was áibǎn.

《现代汉语词典》1978年12月第1版：

呆 ái 义同‘呆’(dāi)，专用于‘呆板’。另见 dāi。

【呆板】 áibǎn 死板；不灵活；不自然：这篇文章写得太～。

Fast forward to present, the once "correct" has long been deemed "obsolete." 《新华字典》 dropped it as early as 1990.

《现代汉语词典》2016年9月第7版：

呆(^①②*獃) dāi ①［形］（头脑）迟钝；不灵敏：～头～脑。②［形］脸上表情死板；发愣：发～｜吓～了。③同“待”(dāi)。④ (Dāi)［名］姓。

【呆板】 dāibǎn (旧读 áibǎn) ［形］死板；不灵活：这篇文章写得太～｜别看他样子～，脑子倒很灵活。

So instead of stressing yourself out over what is correct, why don't you just follow the masses. They always win in the end in these kind of matters.

 

It's worth mentioning that in Cantonese, 骰 has two readings according to CantoDict and 粵語審音配詞字庫: sik¹ (same as 色) and tau⁴ (same as 投). "Jyutping tau4 is literary reading; sik1 is colloquial. The latter one is much more common in usage."

 

Also this interesting paragraph from 蒲松齡《聊齋誌異‧念秧》：

居無何，忽蹴然曰：「平生蹇滯，出門亦無好況。昨夜逆旅，與惡人居，擲骰叫呼，聒耳沸心，使人不眠。」南音呼骰為兜，許不解，固問之。少年手摹其狀。許乃笑於橐中出色一枚，曰：「是此物否？」少年諾。許乃以色為令，相歡飲。酒既闌，許請共擲，贏一東道主。……

 

 

[murrayjames]

A fantastic and detailed answer, as usual. Exactly what I needed. Thank you @Publius

[Tomsima]

from memory 鹿鼎记 always used shǎizi (mandarin dub that is) 

[anonymoose]

As an aside, 骰骨, not that you are likely to ever need this, is pronounced tóugŭ.

[Publius]

37 minutes ago, anonymoose said:

As an aside, 骰骨, not that you are likely to ever need this, is pronounced tóugŭ.

I don't think that's right.

 

《康熙字典》【亥集上】【骨字部】

骰

【廣韻】度侯切【集韻】【韻會】【正韻】徒侯切，?音頭。骰子，博陸采具。【類篇】博齒。【溫庭筠詩】玲瓏骰子安紅豆。　又【集韻】果五切，音古。股或作骰。

 

So 骰骨 is a variant of 股骨 gŭgŭ.

 

EDIT: I was wrong. There is a 骰骨 tóugŭ in the foot. Have never heard of it.

[imron]

1 hour ago, Publius said:

Have never heard of it.

According to a reputable source, it's not likely that you'll ever need to know it anyway.