嗟乎

Chinese

		sigh	(interrog. part.)
trad. (嗟乎)		嗟	乎
simp. #(嗟乎)		嗟	乎
alternative forms		嗟呼 嗟虖／嗟呼

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): jiēhū

  (Zhuyin): ㄐㄧㄝ ㄏㄨ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): ze¹ fu⁴

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: jiēhū
    • Zhuyin: ㄐㄧㄝ ㄏㄨ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: jiehu
    • Wade–Giles: chieh¹-hu¹
    • Yale: jyē-hū
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: jiehu
    • Palladius: цзеху (czexu)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡ɕi̯ɛ⁵⁵ xu⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: ze¹ fu⁴
    • Yale: jē fùh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: dze¹ fu⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: zé¹ fu⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sɛː⁵⁵ fuː²¹/

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• Middle Chinese: tsjae hu

Rime
Character	嗟	乎
Reading #	1/1	1/1
Initial (聲)	精 (13)	匣 (33)
Final (韻)	麻 (100)	模 (23)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	III	I
Fanqie	子邪切	戸吳切
Baxter	tsjae	hu
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/t͡sia/	/ɦuo/
Pan Wuyun	/t͡sia/	/ɦuo/
Shao Rongfen	/t͡sia/	/ɣo/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/t͡sia/	/ɦɔ/
Li Rong	/t͡sia/	/ɣo/
Wang Li	/t͡sĭa/	/ɣu/
Bernhard Karlgren	/t͡si̯a/	/ɣuo/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	jiē	hú
Expected Cantonese Reflex	ze1	wu4

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*tsAj  ɢˤa/

  (Zhengzhang): /*ʔsljal  ɢaː/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	嗟	乎	乎
Reading #	1/1	1/2	2/2
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	jiē	hū	hū
Middle Chinese	‹ tsjæ ›	‹ hu ›	‹ hu ›
Old Chinese	/*tsAj/	/*ɢˁa/	/*ɢˁa/
English	sigh; alas!	(Q particle)	in, at
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	嗟	乎
Reading #	1/1	1/1
No.	18026	5189
Phonetic component	左	乎
Rime group	歌	魚
Rime subdivision	1	0
Corresponding MC rime	嗟	胡
Old Chinese	/*ʔsljal/	/*ɢaː/

Interjection

嗟乎

1. (literary) alas; alack (placed sentence-initially)

   • 高祖常繇咸陽，縱觀，觀秦皇帝，喟然太息曰：「嗟乎，大丈夫當如此也！」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     高祖常繇咸阳，纵观，观秦皇帝，喟然太息曰：「嗟乎，大丈夫当如此也！」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE

     Gāozǔ cháng yáo Xiányáng, zòngguān, guān Qín huángdì, kuìrán tài xī yuē: “Jiēhū, dàzhàngfū dāng rúcǐ yě!” [Pinyin]

     Gaozu often served as a corvee laborer in Xianyang. [The Qin emperor was on an outing and there was] free rein to observe him. Gaozu observed the Qin emperor and sighed heavily, saying: "Ah! A true man should be like this!"

Synonyms

• 嗟夫 (jiēfú)