虛無縹緲

See also: 虚无缥缈

Chinese

		being nothing; empty; void being nothing; empty; void; nihilistic	high, far-away and appearing indistinctly; dimly discernible; misty
trad. (虛無縹緲)		虛無	縹緲
simp. (虚无缥缈)		虚无	缥缈
alternative forms		虛無縹渺／虚无缥渺 虛無飄渺／虚无飘渺

Etymology

Coined by Tang poet Bai Juyi, in The Song of Everlasting Regret:

忽聞海上有仙山，
山在虛無縹緲間。 [Literary Chinese, trad.]

---

忽闻海上有仙山，
山在虚无缥缈间。 [Literary Chinese, simp.]

From: c. 806, 白居易,《長恨歌》, translated by Witter Bynner

Hū wén hǎishàng yǒu xiānshān,
Shān zài xūwú piāomiǎo jiān. [Pinyin]

And then he heard accounts of an enchanted isle at sea,
A part of the intangible and incorporeal world.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): xūwúpiāomiǎo, xūwúpiǎomiǎo

  (Zhuyin): ㄒㄩ ㄨˊ ㄆㄧㄠ ㄇㄧㄠˇ, ㄒㄩ ㄨˊ ㄆㄧㄠˇ ㄇㄧㄠˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): heoi¹ mou⁴ piu¹ miu⁵ / heoi¹ mou⁴ piu⁵ miu⁵

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Mainland)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: xūwúpiāomiǎo
    • Zhuyin: ㄒㄩ ㄨˊ ㄆㄧㄠ ㄇㄧㄠˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: syuwúpiaomiǎo
    • Wade–Giles: hsü¹-wu²-pʻiao¹-miao³
    • Yale: syū-wú-pyāu-myǎu
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shiuwupiaumeau
    • Palladius: сюйупяомяо (sjujupjaomjao)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɕy⁵⁵ u³⁵ pʰi̯ɑʊ̯⁵⁵ mi̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
      
  • (Standard Chinese, Taiwan)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: xūwúpiǎomiǎo [Phonetic: xūwúpiáomiǎo]
    • Zhuyin: ㄒㄩ ㄨˊ ㄆㄧㄠˇ ㄇㄧㄠˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: syuwúpiǎomiǎo
    • Wade–Giles: hsü¹-wu²-pʻiao³-miao³
    • Yale: syū-wú-pyǎu-myǎu
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shiuwupeaumeau
    • Palladius: сюйупяомяо (sjujupjaomjao)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɕy⁵⁵ u³⁵ pʰi̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻³⁵ mi̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: heoi¹ mou⁴ piu¹ miu⁵ / heoi¹ mou⁴ piu⁵ miu⁵
    • Yale: hēui mòuh pīu míuh / hēui mòuh píuh míuh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: hoey¹ mou⁴ piu¹ miu⁵ / hoey¹ mou⁴ piu⁵ miu⁵
    • Guangdong Romanization: hêu¹ mou⁴ piu¹ miu⁵ / hêu¹ mou⁴ piu⁵ miu⁵
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /hɵy̯⁵⁵ mou̯²¹ pʰiːu̯⁵⁵ miːu̯¹³/, /hɵy̯⁵⁵ mou̯²¹ pʰiːu̯¹³ miːu̯¹³/

Idiom

虛無縹緲

1. purely imaginary; entirely unreal; visionary; illusory

   • 謫仙狂客何如？看來畢竟歸田好。玉堂無此，三山海上，虛無縹緲。 [Ci, trad.]
     谪仙狂客何如？看来毕竟归田好。玉堂无此，三山海上，虚无缥缈。 [Ci, simp.]

     From: c. 1190s, 劉過,《水龍吟·寄陸放翁》(To the tune of Water Dragon Chant: Sending to Lu You)

     Zhéxiān kuángkè hérú? Kànlái bìjìng guītián hǎo. Yùtáng wú cǐ, sānshān hǎishàng, xūwúpiāomiǎo. [Pinyin]

     Immortal banished from the heavens, wild-eyed poet—
     How does your exile fare? Yet I behold:
     Tilling the earth outshines all earthly bliss.
     Sweeter than jade halls where scholars sip their fame,
     Beyond those three mythic isles adrift amidst the void.

   • 2000, Xu Wei, “那一年 [In that Year]”, in 那一年 [In that Year], performed by Xu Wei:

     这么多年你还在不停奔跑　眼看着明天依然虚无缥缈 [MSC, simp.]
     這麼多年你還在不停奔跑　眼看著明天依然虛無縹緲 [MSC, trad.]

     Zhème duō nián nǐ hái zài bùtíng bēnpǎo, Yǎnkànzhe míngtiān yīrán xūwúpiāomiǎo [Pinyin]

     You've been keeping on running since so many years ago / What you can only do is to let tomorrow be still unpredictable