仰之彌高

Chinese

		look up	's; him/her/it; this	full; to fill	high; tall
trad. (仰之彌高)		仰	之	彌	高
simp. (仰之弥高)		仰	之	弥	高
Literally: “the more looked up at, the higher it seems”.

Etymology

From the Analects, Book 9 (《論語·子罕》):

顏淵喟然歎曰「仰之彌高，鑽之彌堅，瞻之在前，忽焉在後！…… [Classical Chinese, trad.]

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颜渊喟然叹曰「仰之弥高，钻之弥坚，瞻之在前，忽焉在后！…… [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

Yán Yuān kuìrán tàn yuē “yǎng zhī mí gāo, zuān zhī mí jiān, zhān zhī zài qián, hū yān zài hòu!...... [Pinyin]

Yan Yuan, in admiration of the Master's doctrines, sighed and said, "I looked up to them, and they seemed to become more high; I tried to penetrate them, and they seemed to become more firm; I looked at them before me, and suddenly they seemed to be behind.…

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): yǎngzhīmígāo

  (Zhuyin): ㄧㄤˇ ㄓ ㄇㄧˊ ㄍㄠ

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: yǎngzhīmígāo
    • Zhuyin: ㄧㄤˇ ㄓ ㄇㄧˊ ㄍㄠ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: yǎngjhihmígao
    • Wade–Giles: yang³-chih¹-mi²-kao¹
    • Yale: yǎng-jr̄-mí-gāu
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: yeangjymigau
    • Palladius: янчжимигао (jančžimigao)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jɑŋ²¹⁴⁻²¹ ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵ mi³⁵ kɑʊ̯⁵⁵/

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• Middle Chinese: ngjangX tsyi mjie kaw

Rime
Character	仰	之	彌	高
Reading #	1/2	1/1	1/1	1/1
Initial (聲)	疑 (31)	章 (23)	明 (4)	見 (28)
Final (韻)	陽 (105)	之 (19)	支 (11)	豪 (89)
Tone (調)	Rising (X)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open	Open	Open
Division (等)	III	III	III	I
Fanqie	魚兩切	止而切	武移切	古勞切
Baxter	ngjangX	tsyi	mjie	kaw
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ŋɨɐŋX/	/t͡ɕɨ/	/miᴇ/	/kɑu/
Pan Wuyun	/ŋiɐŋX/	/t͡ɕɨ/	/miɛ/	/kɑu/
Shao Rongfen	/ŋiɑŋX/	/t͡ɕie/	/mjɛ/	/kɑu/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ŋɨaŋX/	/cɨ/	/miə̆/	/kaw/
Li Rong	/ŋiaŋX/	/t͡ɕiə/	/mie/	/kɑu/
Wang Li	/ŋĭaŋX/	/t͡ɕĭə/	/mǐe/	/kɑu/
Bernhard Karlgren	/ŋi̯aŋX/	/t͡ɕi/	/mie̯/	/kɑu/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	yǎng	zhī	mí	gāo
Expected Cantonese Reflex	joeng5	zi1	mei4	gou1

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*C.ŋaŋʔ  tə  m-nə[r]  Cə.[k]ˤaw/

  (Zhengzhang): /*ŋaŋʔ  tjɯ  mnel  kaːw/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	仰	之	彌	高
Reading #	1/1	2/2	1/2	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	yǎng	zhī	mí	gāo
Middle Chinese	‹ ngjangX ›	‹ tsyi ›	‹ mjie ›	‹ kaw ›
Old Chinese	/*C.ŋaŋʔ/	/*tə/	/*m-nə[r]/	/*Cə.[k]ˁaw/
English	lift the face, look up	(3p object pronoun; attributive particle)	to complete	high, tall
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	仰	之	彌	高
Reading #	1/2	1/1	1/1	1/1
No.	31	17188	2808	3726
Phonetic component	卬	之	爾	高
Rime group	陽	之	歌	宵
Rime subdivision	0	0	2	1
Corresponding MC rime	仰	之	彌	髙
Old Chinese	/*ŋaŋʔ/	/*tjɯ/	/*mnel/	/*kaːw/

Idiom

仰之彌高

1. to hold in high esteem