# 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) | trad. (之乎者也) | 之 | 乎 | 者 | 也 |
| simp. $^#$(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): zi$^1$ fu$^4$ ze$^2$ jaa$^5$
* Southern Min (Teochew, Peng'im): ze$^1$ hu$^7$ zia$^2$ ia$^2$
* Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): $^1$tsy-hu-tse-ye
* Mandarin
** (Standard Chinese)
*** Hanyu Pinyin: zhīhūzhěyě [Phonetic: zhīhūzhéyě]
*** Zhuyin: ㄓ ㄏㄨ ㄓㄜˇ ㄧㄝˇ
*** Tongyong Pinyin: jhihhujhěyě
*** Wade–Giles: chih$^1$-hu$^1$-chê$^3$-yeh$^3$
*** Yale: jr̄-hū-jě-yě
*** Gwoyeu Romatzyh: jyhujeeyee
*** Palladius: чжихучжэе (čžixučžɛje)
*** Sinological IPA : /ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵ xu⁵⁵ ʈ͡ʂɤ²¹⁴⁻³⁵ jɛ²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
* Cantonese
** (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
*** Jyutping: zi$^1$ fu$^4$ ze$^2$ jaa$^5$
*** Yale: jī fùh jé yáh
*** Cantonese Pinyin: dzi$^1$ fu$^4$ dze$^2$ jaa$^5$
*** Guangdong Romanization: ji$^1$ fu$^4$ zé$^2$ ya$^5$
*** Sinological IPA : /t͡siː⁵⁵ fuː²¹ t͡sɛː³⁵ jaː¹³/
* Southern Min
** (Teochew)
*** Peng'im: ze$^1$ hu$^7$ zia$^2$ ia$^2$
*** Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: tsṳ hū tsiá iá
*** Sinological IPA : /t͡sɯ³³⁻²³ hu¹¹ t͡sia⁵²⁻³⁵ ia⁵²⁻²¹/
* Wu
** (Northern: Shanghai)
*** Wugniu: $^1$tsy-hu-tse-ye
*** MiniDict: tsy$^平$ hu tse yae
*** Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): $^1$tsr-hu-tse-hhie
*** Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /t͡sz̩⁵⁵ hu³³ t͡se³³ ɦie²¹/
* 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/ | /t͡ɕia$^X$/ | /jia$^X$/ |
| Pan Wuyun | /t͡ɕɨ/ | /ɦuo/ | /t͡ɕia$^X$/ | /jia$^X$/ |
| Shao Rongfen | /t͡ɕie/ | /ɣo/ | /t͡ɕia$^X$/ | /ia$^X$/ |
| Edwin Pulleyblank | /cɨ/ | /ɦɔ/ | /cia$^X$/ | /jia$^X$/ |
| Li Rong | /t͡ɕiə/ | /ɣo/ | /t͡ɕia$^X$/ | /ia$^X$/ |
| Wang Li | /t͡ɕĭə/ | /ɣu/ | /t͡ɕĭa$^X$/ | /jĭa$^X$/ |
| Bernard Karlgren | /t͡ɕi/ | /ɣuo/ | /t͡ɕi̯a$^X$/ | /i̯a$^X$/ |
| Expected Mandarin Reflex | zhī | hú | zhě | yě |
| Expected Cantonese Reflex | zi$^1$ | wu$^4$ | ze$^2$ | je$^5$ |
* 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 › | ‹ tsyæ$^X$ › | ‹ yæ$^X$ › |
| 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 | 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
* (metonymically) unintelligible speech or article filled with archaisms; pedantic expressions; grandiloquent speech; semi-incomprehensible talk
    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.