僚

Historical forms of the character 僚
Oracle bone script j18875 Small seal script s05694
References: Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation), which in turn draws data from various collections of ancient forms of Chinese characters, including: Shuowen Jiezi (small seal), Jinwen Bian (bronze inscriptions), Liushutong (Liushutong characters) and Yinxu Jiaguwen Bian (oracle bone script).

Characters in the same phonetic series (尞) (Zhengzhang, 2003)

	Old Chinese
簝	reːw, reːw
潦	reːwʔ, reːws
獠	reːwʔ, ʔr'eːwʔ, *reːw
轑	*reːwʔ
橑	reːwʔ, reːw
燎	rew, rewʔ, *rews
繚	rewʔ, reːw, *reːwʔ
璙	rewʔ, reːw, *reːws
憭	rewʔ, reːw, *reːwʔ
爒	rewʔ, reːwʔ
僚	rewʔ, reːw
嫽	rewʔ, reːw, *reːws
療	*rews
膫	rews, reːw
鷯	rews, reːw
遼	*reːw
撩	reːw, reːwʔ
嘹	reːw, reːw, *reːws
寮	*reːw
飉	*reːw
竂	*reːw
鐐	reːw, reːws
蟟	*reːw
瞭	reːw, reːwʔ
嶚	*reːw
镽	*reːwʔ

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *rewʔ, *reːw) : semantic 人 (“person”) + phonetic 尞 ().

Pronunciation 1

simp. and trad.		僚
2nd round simp.		𠆨
alternative forms		寮尞

Mandarin
(Pinyin): liáo (liao²)

(Zhuyin): ㄌㄧㄠˊ
Cantonese (Jyutping): liu⁴
Eastern Min (BUC): lièu
Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): liâu
Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ⁶liau

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: liáo
  - Zhuyin: ㄌㄧㄠˊ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: liáo
  - Wade–Giles: liao²
  - Yale: lyáu
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: liau
  - Palladius: ляо (ljao)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /li̯ɑʊ̯³⁵/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
  - Jyutping: liu⁴
  - Yale: lìuh
  - Cantonese Pinyin: liu⁴
  - Guangdong Romanization: liu⁴
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /liːu̯²¹/
Eastern Min
- (Fuzhou)
  - Bàng-uâ-cê: lièu
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /l̃ieu⁵³/
Southern Min
- (Hokkien)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: liâu
  - Tâi-lô: liâu
  - Phofsit Daibuun: liaau
  - IPA (Xiamen): /liau²⁴/
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /liau²⁴/
  - IPA (Zhangzhou): /liau¹³/
  - IPA (Taipei): /liau²⁴/
  - IPA (Kaohsiung): /liau²³/
Wu
- (Northern: Shanghai)
  - Wugniu: ⁶liau
  - MiniDict: liau^去
  - Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ³liau
  - Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /liɔ²³/

Middle Chinese: lew, ljewX

Rime
Character	僚	僚
Reading #	1/2	2/2
Initial (聲)	來 (37)	來 (37)
Final (韻)	蕭 (93)	宵 (91)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Rising (X)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	IV	III
Fanqie	落蕭切	力小切
Baxter	lew	ljewX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/leu/	/liᴇu^X/
Pan Wuyun	/leu/	/liɛu^X/
Shao Rongfen	/leu/	/ljæu^X/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/lɛw/	/liaw^X/
Li Rong	/leu/	/liɛu^X/
Wang Li	/lieu/	/lĭɛu^X/
Bernhard Karlgren	/lieu/	/li̯ɛu^X/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	liáo	liǎo
Expected Cantonese Reflex	liu⁴	liu⁵

Old Chinese
(Baxter–Sagart): /*[r]ˤew/

(Zhengzhang): /*rewʔ/, /*reːw/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	僚
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	liáo
Middle Chinese	‹ lew ›
Old Chinese	/*[r]ˁew/
English	office or position
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. [t] as coda may in fact be -t or -p; Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	僚	僚
Reading #	1/2	2/2
No.	8084	8095
Phonetic component	尞	尞
Rime group	宵	宵
Rime subdivision	2	2
Corresponding MC rime	繚	聊
Old Chinese	/*rewʔ/	/*reːw/

Definitions

僚

official; bureaucrat
官僚 ― guānliáo ― bureaucrat
colleague; associate; companion
同僚 ― tóngliáo ― colleague; coworker
a surname

Compounds

下僚
僚佐 (liáozuǒ)
僚友
僚寀／僚采
僚屬／僚属 (liáoshǔ)
僚機／僚机 (liáojī)
同僚 (tóngliáo)
壙僚／圹僚
大僚
官僚 (guānliáo)
官僚主義／官僚主义 (guānliáo zhǔyì)
官僚政治
官僚資本／官僚资本
官僚資本主義／官僚资本主义 (guānliáo zīběnzhǔyì)
幕僚 (mùliáo)
幕僚機關／幕僚机关
朋僚 (péngliáo)
百僚
臣僚 (chénliáo)

Pronunciation 2

simp. and trad.		僚

Mandarin
(Pinyin): liǎo (liao³)

(Zhuyin): ㄌㄧㄠˇ
Cantonese (Jyutping): liu⁵

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: liǎo
  - Zhuyin: ㄌㄧㄠˇ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: liǎo
  - Wade–Giles: liao³
  - Yale: lyǎu
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: leau
  - Palladius: ляо (ljao)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /li̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
  - Jyutping: liu⁵
  - Yale: líuh
  - Cantonese Pinyin: liu⁵
  - Guangdong Romanization: liu⁵
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /liːu̯¹³/

Definitions

僚

^† good; beautiful
- 月出皎兮、佼人僚兮。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]
  From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11^th – 7^th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version
  Yuè chū jiǎo xī, jiǎorén liǎo xī. [Pinyin]
  The moon comes forth in her brightness;
  How lovely is that beautiful lady!

Pronunciation 3

simp. and trad.		僚

Mandarin
(Pinyin): lǎo (lao³)

(Zhuyin): ㄌㄠˇ
Cantonese (Jyutping): lou⁵

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: lǎo
  - Zhuyin: ㄌㄠˇ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: lǎo
  - Wade–Giles: lao³
  - Yale: lǎu
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: lao
  - Palladius: лао (lao)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /lɑʊ̯²¹⁴/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
  - Jyutping: lou⁵
  - Yale: lóuh
  - Cantonese Pinyin: lou⁵
  - Guangdong Romanization: lou⁵
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /lou̯¹³/

Definitions

僚

Wikipedia has articles on:

僚人 (Written Standard Chinese^?)
Rau peoples (English)

(historical) Alternative form of 䝤 (lǎo, “an ancient tribe in southwestern China”)

Compounds

僚人

References

“僚”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[1], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

Japanese

Kanji

僚

(Jōyō kanji)

Readings

Go-on: りょう (ryō, Jōyō)^{←れう (reu, historical)}
Kan-on: りょう (ryō, Jōyō)^{←れう (reu, historical)}
Kun: とも (tomo, 僚)、つかさ (tsukasa, 僚)

Affix

僚(りょう) • (ryō)

colleague

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 僚 (MC lew|ljewX). Recorded as Middle Korean 료 (lyo) (Yale: lyo) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

僚

Wikisource

僚 (eumhun 동료 료 (dongnyo ryo), word-initial (South Korea) 동료 요 (dongnyo yo))

hanja form^? of 료/요 (“colleague”)

Compounds

동료 (同僚, dongnyo)
관료 (官僚, gwallyo)
각료 (閣僚, gangnyo)
막료 (幕僚, mangnyo)

References

국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [2]