Glossary

You can use the glossary below to help you with the translations. The characters are sorted by stroke count. The characters below have many meanings, and I list only those most relevant to the translations, with occasional additions to give you hints tweaks to better fit the meaning found in the bamboo slips. Classical Chinese is an extremely flexible and beautiful but also sometimes frustratingly compact language that often leaves out many words (including the subject of a sentence and various helping words). I suggest you try translating all the words in the slips first, then go back and play with them in order to build a sentence that makes more sense in English. Remember, for this adventure, you don’t need perfectly translated phrases. In the game, look for longer quotes based on published translations that include these phrases. They will supply key clues for the completion of the game. There is a single-page PDF version of this list here.

一 one
人 person, people; human
三 three
下 downward, down
大 big
之 1) A之B = The B of A; A’s B 2) it/him/her (as object of sentence)
己 self; oneself
子 you
也 (when at end of sentence can often be ignored in translation)
井 well (the kind of well with water in it)
天 heaven(ly)
天下 the world, all under heaven
不 no, not
止 still, stop
水 water
仁 benevolence (compassion for others); goodness
方 region
心 heart
可以 can, able to
生 life
乎 ? - makes a phrase into a question, sometimes rhetorical
必 certainly, must
有 there are/is; to have
而 and; but rather
死 death
此 these, this
自 from
行 walk (together); travel
亦 (this [thing just spoken of]) - refers back to thing just mentioned
安 how?
我 I, my, me
作於 begin as
近 similar, near
改 change, reform
者 one that is (eg. 強者 = one/those that is/are strong)
拘 limited (by)
其 those, that
林 forest
枝 branch
來 come
事 thing
非 is/are not
易 easy
忠 dutifulness
罔 to be lost; be deceived
知 to know; to understand
朋 friend
周 Zhou, first name of Zhuangzi
於 about; in; of; by; [more] than
河 river
性 nature
相 (indicates mutuality eg. A相B = [people] are [all] B when it comes to A)
殆 danger, dangerous
則 then (A則B = A will result in B)
思 reflect, think
信 trustworthiness
柔弱 weak
莫 nothing, no one, never
時 occasionally
師 teacher
徒 companion
海 ocean
流 flowing, to flow
焉 (among them)
患 worry
過 to exceed; (take more than)
偃鼠 beaver
從 (emulate), follow
欲 desire
魚 fish
深 deep
強 strong
習 practice
細 small (thin)
巢 to nest
虛 space; hole
蛙 frog
無 there are/is no/not
飲 drink
善 good
遠 different, far
夢為 dream that, dream of
與 or; ignore if at end of sentence
腹 belly
義 righteousness
語 speak; talk
說 pleasing; satisfying
養 cultivate
滿 to fill, full
寡 few
蝴蝶 butterfly
樂 happy, happiness
擇 choose, (focus on)
學 study
爵 honors
難 difficult
鑑 mirror, to look at a reflection
鷦鷯 tailor-bird