People & Bonds
泰山北斗
태산북두
tài shān běi dǒu
Tae-san-buk-du
泰
클 태
山
메 산
北
북쪽 북
斗
말 두
Character by character
Meaning
Mount Tai and the Northern Dipper — a towering figure in a field.
Origin
From the New History of Tang, where scholars looked up to Han Yu as to Mount Tai and the Dipper.
How it is used
An honorific for an elder statesman of a discipline or an art.
Hanja泰山北斗
Simplified泰山北斗
Korean reading태산북두
Pinyintài shān běi dǒu
Frequently asked questions
Q. What does Tae-san-buk-du mean?
泰山北斗 · Mount Tai and the Northern Dipper — a towering figure in a field.
Q. Where does Tae-san-buk-du come from?
From the New History of Tang, where scholars looked up to Han Yu as to Mount Tai and the Dipper.
Q. How is Tae-san-buk-du used?
An honorific for an elder statesman of a discipline or an art.
Idioms in the same group
管鮑之交 Gwan-po-ji-gyoThe friendship of Guan Zhong and Bao Shuya — friends who truly know each other.竹馬故友 Juk-ma-go-uAn old friend from bamboo-horse days — someone you grew up with.百年偕老 Baeng-nyeon-hae-roGrowing old together for a hundred years.同苦同樂 Dong-go-dong-nakSharing the hardship and the joy alike.人之常情 In-ji-sang-jeongThe ordinary feeling any human being would have.類類相從 Yu-yu-sang-jongLike follows like — similar people gather together.
The idioms used in Korea mix phrases from the Chinese classics with ones coined in Korea. Where an expression is not used in China, the entry says so.