# 嗚呼哀哉
## Chinese

| | | alas; alack; wellawayalas; alack; wellaway; to die; to pass away | How sad! |
| trad. (嗚呼哀哉) | trad. (嗚呼哀哉) | 嗚呼 | 哀哉 |
| simp. (呜呼哀哉) | simp. (呜呼哀哉) | 呜呼 | 哀哉 |
| alternative forms | alternative forms | 於呼哀哉 | 於呼哀哉 |
| Literally: “Alas, how sorrowful!”. ||||

### Pronunciation

* Mandarin
    (Pinyin): wūhū'āizāi
    (Zhuyin): ㄨ ㄏㄨ ㄞ ㄗㄞ
* Cantonese (Jyutping): wu$^1$ fu$^1$ oi$^1$ zoi$^1$
* Southern Min
    (Hokkien, POJ): o͘-ho͘ ai chai
    (Teochew, Peng'im): u$^1$ hu$^7$ ai$^1$ zai$^7$
* Mandarin
** (Standard Chinese)
*** Hanyu Pinyin: wūhū'āizāi
*** Zhuyin: ㄨ ㄏㄨ ㄞ ㄗㄞ
*** Tongyong Pinyin: wuhu-aizai
*** Wade–Giles: wu$^1$-hu$^1$-ai$^1$-tsai$^1$
*** Yale: wū-hū-āi-dzāi
*** Gwoyeu Romatzyh: uhuaitzai
*** Palladius: уху’айцзай (uxu’ajczaj)
*** Sinological IPA : /u⁵⁵ xu⁵⁵ ˀaɪ̯⁵⁵ t͡saɪ̯⁵⁵/
* Cantonese
** (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
*** Jyutping: wu$^1$ fu$^1$ oi$^1$ zoi$^1$
*** Yale: wū fū ōi jōi
*** Cantonese Pinyin: wu$^1$ fu$^1$ oi$^1$ dzoi$^1$
*** Guangdong Romanization: wu$^1$ fu$^1$ oi$^1$ zoi$^1$
*** Sinological IPA : /wuː⁵⁵ fuː⁵⁵ ɔːi̯⁵⁵ t͡sɔːi̯⁵⁵/
* Southern Min
** (Hokkien)
*** Pe̍h-ōe-jī: o͘-ho͘ ai chai
*** Tâi-lô: oo-hoo ai tsai
*** Phofsit Daibuun: o'hof ay zay
*** IPA (Xiamen): /ɔ⁴⁴⁻²² hɔ⁴⁴⁻²² ai⁴⁴⁻²² t͡sai⁴⁴/
*** IPA (Quanzhou): /ɔ³³ hɔ³³ ai³³ t͡sai³³/
*** IPA (Zhangzhou): /ɔ⁴⁴⁻²² hɔ⁴⁴⁻²² ai⁴⁴⁻²² t͡sai⁴⁴/
*** IPA (Taipei): /ɔ⁴⁴⁻³³ hɔ⁴⁴⁻³³ ai⁴⁴⁻³³ t͡sai⁴⁴/
*** IPA (Kaohsiung): /ɔ⁴⁴⁻³³ hɔ⁴⁴⁻³³ ai⁴⁴⁻³³ t͡sai⁴⁴/
** (Teochew)
*** Peng'im: u$^1$ hu$^7$ ai$^1$ zai$^7$
*** Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: u hū ai tsāi
*** Sinological IPA : /u³³⁻²³ hu¹¹ ai³³⁻²³ t͡sai¹¹/
* Middle Chinese: 'u xu 'oj tsoj
Rime :
| Character | 嗚 | 呼 | 哀 | 哉 |
| Reading # | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 |
| Initial (聲) | 影 (34) | 曉 (32) | 影 (34) | 精 (13) |
| Final (韻) | 模 (23) | 模 (23) | 咍 (41) | 咍 (41) |
| Tone (調) | Level (Ø) | Level (Ø) | Level (Ø) | Level (Ø) |
| Openness (開合) | Open | Open | Open | Open |
| Division (等) | I | I | I | I |
| Fanqie | 哀都切 | 荒烏切 | 烏開切 | 祖才切 |
| Baxter | 'u | xu | 'oj | tsoj |
| Reconstructions |||||
| Zhengzhang Shangfang | /ʔuo/ | /huo/ | /ʔʌi/ | /t͡sʌi/ |
| Pan Wuyun | /ʔuo/ | /huo/ | /ʔəi/ | /t͡səi/ |
| Shao Rongfen | /ʔo/ | /xo/ | /ʔɒi/ | /t͡sɒi/ |
| Edwin Pulleyblank | /ʔɔ/ | /hɔ/ | /ʔəj/ | /t͡səj/ |
| Li Rong | /ʔo/ | /xo/ | /ʔᴀi/ | /t͡sᴀi/ |
| Wang Li | /u/ | /xu/ | /ɒi/ | /t͡sɒi/ |
| Bernard Karlgren | /ʔuo/ | /xuo/ | /ʔɑ̆i/ | /t͡sɑ̆i/ |
| Expected Mandarin Reflex | wū | hū | āi | zāi |
| Expected Cantonese Reflex | wu$^1$ | fu$^1$ | oi$^1$ | zoi$^1$ |
* Old Chinese
    (Zhengzhang): /*qaː qʰaː qɯːl ʔslɯː/
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014) :
| Character | 呼 | 呼 | 哀 | 哉 | 哉 |
| Reading # | 1/2 | 2/2 | 1/1 | 1/2 | 2/2 |
| Modern Beijing (Pinyin) | hū | hù | āi | zāi | zāi |
| Middle Chinese | ‹ xu › | ‹ xu$^H$ › | ‹ ʔoj › | ‹ tsoj › | ‹ tsoj › |
| Old Chinese | /*qʰˁa/ | /*qʰˁa-s/ | /*ʔˁəj/ | /*[ts]ˁə/ | /*[ts]ˁə/ |
| English | call out, shout | call out, shout | to pity; sad | begin | (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 | 嗚 | 呼 | 哀 | 哉 |
| Reading # | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 |
| No. | 13078 | 5181 | 14835 | 16490 |
| Phonetic component | 烏 | 乎 | 衣 |  |
| Rime group | 魚 | 魚 | 微 | 之 |
| Rime subdivision | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Corresponding MC rime | 烏 | 呼 | 哀 | 烖 |
| Old Chinese | /*qaː/ | /*qʰaː/ | /*qɯːl/ | /*ʔslɯː/ |

### Interjection

嗚呼哀哉
* (archaic) alas; alack; wellaway
    From: 758 A.D., Yan Zhenqing, Draft of a Requiem to my Nephew (Translation extracted from )
    Niàn ěr gòu cán, bǎi shēn hé shú? Wūhū āi zāi! [Pinyin]
    I remember how you met with your cruel death, but could we ransom all those people? Alas, how I grieve!

### Idiom

嗚呼哀哉
* (euphemistic, sometimes humorous or ironic) to die; to pass away

#### Synonyms

* 一命嗚呼／一命呜呼 (yīmìngwūhū)