之乎者也

Chinese

		possessive particle: 's	interrogative particle: ?	‑ist, ‑er (person); person (who does something)	affirmative particle: indeed
trad. (之乎者也)		之	乎	者	也
simp. #(之乎者也)		之	乎	者	也

Etymology

The four common particles in Classical Chinese.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): zhīhūzhěyě

  (Zhuyin): ㄓ ㄏㄨ ㄓㄜˇ ㄧㄝˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): zi¹ fu⁴ ze² jaa⁵
• Hakka (Changting, Changting Pinyin): zhï¹ fu¹ zha³ ya³
• Southern Min (Teochew, Peng'im): ze¹ hu⁷ zia² ia²
• Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ¹tsy-hu-tse-ye

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: zhīhūzhěyě [Phonetic: zhīhūzhéyě]
    • Zhuyin: ㄓ ㄏㄨ ㄓㄜˇ ㄧㄝˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: jhihhujhěyě
    • Wade–Giles: chih¹-hu¹-chê³-yeh³
    • Yale: jr̄-hū-jě-yě
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: jyhujeeyee
    • Palladius: чжихучжэе (čžixučžɛje)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵ xu⁵⁵ ʈ͡ʂɤ²¹⁴⁻³⁵ jɛ²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: zi¹ fu⁴ ze² jaa⁵
    • Yale: jī fùh jé yáh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: dzi¹ fu⁴ dze² jaa⁵
    • Guangdong Romanization: ji¹ fu⁴ zé² ya⁵
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡siː⁵⁵ fuː²¹ t͡sɛː³⁵ jaː¹³/
• Hakka
  • (Changting)
    • Changting Pinyin: zhï¹ fu¹ zha³ ya³
    • Sinological IPA: /t͡ʃʐ̩³³ fu³³ t͡ʃa⁴²⁻³³ ia⁴²/
• Southern Min
  • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: ze¹ hu⁷ zia² ia²
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: tsṳ hū tsiá iá
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sɯ³³⁻²³ hu¹¹ t͡sia⁵²⁻³⁵ ia⁵²⁻²¹/
• Wu
  • (Northern: Shanghai)
    • Wugniu: ¹tsy-hu-tse-ye
    • MiniDict: tsy^平 hu tse yae
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ¹tsr-hu-tse-hhie
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /t͡sz̩⁵⁵ hu³³ t͡se³³ ɦie²¹/

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• Middle Chinese: tsyi hu tsyaeX yaeX

Rime
Character	之	乎	者	也
Reading #	1/1	1/1	1/1	1/1
Initial (聲)	章 (23)	匣 (33)	章 (23)	以 (36)
Final (韻)	之 (19)	模 (23)	麻 (100)	麻 (100)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)	Rising (X)	Rising (X)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open	Open	Open
Division (等)	III	I	III	III
Fanqie	止而切	戸吳切	章也切	羊者切
Baxter	tsyi	hu	tsyaeX	yaeX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/t͡ɕɨ/	/ɦuo/	/t͡ɕiaX/	/jiaX/
Pan Wuyun	/t͡ɕɨ/	/ɦuo/	/t͡ɕiaX/	/jiaX/
Shao Rongfen	/t͡ɕie/	/ɣo/	/t͡ɕiaX/	/iaX/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/cɨ/	/ɦɔ/	/ciaX/	/jiaX/
Li Rong	/t͡ɕiə/	/ɣo/	/t͡ɕiaX/	/iaX/
Wang Li	/t͡ɕĭə/	/ɣu/	/t͡ɕĭaX/	/jĭaX/
Bernhard Karlgren	/t͡ɕi/	/ɣuo/	/t͡ɕi̯aX/	/i̯aX/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	zhī	hú	zhě	yě
Expected Cantonese Reflex	zi1	wu4	ze2	je5

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*tə  ɢˤa  tAʔ  lAjʔ/

  (Zhengzhang): /*tjɯ  ɢaː  tjaːʔ  laːlʔ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	之	之	乎	乎	者	也
Reading #	1/2	2/2	1/2	2/2	1/1	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	zhī	zhī	hū	hū	zhě	yě
Middle Chinese	‹ tsyi ›	‹ tsyi ›	‹ hu ›	‹ hu ›	‹ tsyæX ›	‹ yæX ›
Old Chinese	/*tə/	/*tə/	/*ɢˁa/	/*ɢˁa/	/*tAʔ/	/*lAjʔ/
English	go to	(3p object pronoun; attributive particle)	(Q particle)	in, at	(nominalizing particle)	(final particle)
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	之	乎	者	也
Reading #	1/1	1/1	1/1	1/1
No.	17188	5189	16960	14773
Phonetic component	之	乎	者	也
Rime group	之	魚	魚	歌
Rime subdivision	0	0	0	1
Corresponding MC rime	之	胡	者	野
Old Chinese	/*tjɯ/	/*ɢaː/	/*tjaːʔ/	/*laːlʔ/
Notes			說文古旅聲。甲金文象足印小坎積水， 爲瀦初文，用詹鄞鑫說

Idiom

之乎者也

1. (metonymic) unintelligible speech or article filled with archaisms; pedantic expressions; grandiloquent speech; semi-incomprehensible talk

   • 他對人說話，總是滿口之乎者也，教人半懂不懂的。 [Written Vernacular Chinese, trad.]
     他对人说话，总是满口之乎者也，教人半懂不懂的。 [Written Vernacular Chinese, simp.]

     From: 魯迅 Lu Xun, 《孔乙己》 Kung I-chi, 1919; translation by Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang.

     Tā duìrén shuōhuà, zǒngshì mǎnkǒu zhīhūzhěyě, jiào rén bàn dǒng bùdǒng de. [Pinyin]

     He used so many archaisms in his speech, it was impossible to understand half he said.

References

• 周存 [Zhōu, Cún], editor (2023), “之乎者也”, in 长汀话词典 CHANGTINGHUA CIDIAN [Dictionary of Changting Dialect] (overall work in Hakka and Mandarin), Guangzhou: 世界图书出版有限公司 [World Book Publishing Co., Ltd.], →ISBN, page 807.