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之乎者也

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Chinese

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

Etymology

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The four common particles in Classical Chinese.

Pronunciation

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Rime
Character
Reading # 1/1 1/1 1/1 1/1
Initial () (23) (33) (23) (36)
Final () (19) (23) (100) (100)
Tone (調) Level (Ø) Level (Ø) Rising (X) Rising (X)
Openness (開合) Open Open Open Open
Division () III I III III
Fanqie
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 zhě
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex
zi1 wu4 ze2 je5
BaxterSagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character
Reading # 1/2 2/2 1/2 2/2 1/1 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)
zhī zhī zhě
Middle
Chinese
‹ tsyi › ‹ tsyi › ‹ hu › ‹ hu › ‹ tsyæX › ‹ X ›
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
Reading # 1/1 1/1 1/1 1/1
No. 17188 5189 16960 14773
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
0 0 0 1
Corresponding
MC rime
Old
Chinese
/*tjɯ/ /*ɢaː/ /*tjaːʔ/ /*laːlʔ/
Notes

Idiom

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之乎者也

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