丈

zhàng

unit of length; adult male; husband

Meaning

1. A unit of length equal to ten //chi// (十尺).

2. An adult man or a person of full stature.

Distinctions

  • Personhood: Emphasizes physical maturity and robustness over social rank (distinguishing it from //junzi// 君子) or general identity (//ren// 人, //nan// 男).
  • Relational: Denotes "husband" specifically in compounds such as //zhangfu// 丈夫.
  • Measurement: Distinguish between literal measurement and hyperbolic use to indicate immense scale or "loftiness."

Translator notes

Avoid assigning a fixed modern metric value (e.g., 3.3m) unless the text requires technical reconstruction, as the length of the //chi// varied significantly by period.

Decontextualized translator aid. This page describes plausible lexical range; it does not choose what the glyph means in a particular passage.