# 匪夷所思
## Chinese

| | | not | normal; ordinary | what one thinks; one's thoughts |
| trad. (匪夷所思) | trad. (匪夷所思) | 匪 | 夷 | 所思 |
| simp. $^#$(匪夷所思) | simp. $^#$(匪夷所思) | 匪 | 夷 | 所思 |

### Etymology

From I Ching, Hexagram 59 (《易经·渙卦》):
    六四：渙其群，元吉。渙有丘，匪夷所思。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]六四：涣其群，元吉。涣有丘，匪夷所思。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]From: I Ching, 11th – 8th century BCE, translated based on James Legge's versionLiù sì: huàn qí qún, yuán jí. Huàn yǒu qiū, fěi yí suǒ sī. [Pinyin]The fourth SIX, divided, shows its subject scattering the (different) parties (in the state); which leads to great good fortune. From the dispersion (he collects again good men standing out, a crowd) like a mound, which is what ordinary men would not have thought of.

### Pronunciation

* Mandarin
    (Pinyin): fěiyísuǒsī
    (Zhuyin): ㄈㄟˇ ㄧˊ ㄙㄨㄛˇ ㄙ
* Cantonese (Jyutping): fei$^2$ ji$^4$ so$^2$ si$^1$
* Southern Min (Teochew, Peng'im): huin$^2$ i$^5$ so$^2$ se$^1$
* Mandarin
** (Standard Chinese)
*** Hanyu Pinyin: fěiyísuǒsī
*** Zhuyin: ㄈㄟˇ ㄧˊ ㄙㄨㄛˇ ㄙ
*** Tongyong Pinyin: fěiyísuǒsih
*** Wade–Giles: fei$^3$-i$^2$-so$^3$-ssŭ$^1$
*** Yale: fěi-yí-swǒ-sz̄
*** Gwoyeu Romatzyh: feeiyisuoosy
*** Palladius: фэйисосы (fɛjisosy)
*** Sinological IPA : /feɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ i³⁵ su̯ɔ²¹⁴⁻²¹ sz̩⁵⁵/
* Cantonese
** (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
*** Jyutping: fei$^2$ ji$^4$ so$^2$ si$^1$
*** Yale: féi yìh só sī
*** Cantonese Pinyin: fei$^2$ ji$^4$ so$^2$ si$^1$
*** Guangdong Romanization: féi$^2$ yi$^4$ so$^2$ xi$^1$
*** Sinological IPA : /fei̯³⁵ jiː²¹ sɔː³⁵ siː⁵⁵/
* Southern Min
** (Teochew)
*** Peng'im: huin$^2$ i$^5$ so$^2$ se$^1$
*** Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: húiⁿ î só sṳ
*** Sinological IPA : /hũĩ⁵²⁻³⁵ i⁵⁵⁻¹¹ so⁵²⁻³⁵ sɯ³³/
* Middle Chinese: pj+jX yij srjoX si
Rime :
| Character | 匪 | 夷 | 所 | 思 |
| Reading # | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/2 |
| Initial (聲) | 幫 (1) | 以 (36) | 生 (21) | 心 (16) |
| Final (韻) | 微 (21) | 脂 (15) | 魚 (22) | 之 (19) |
| Tone (調) | Rising (X) | Level (Ø) | Rising (X) | Level (Ø) |
| Openness (開合) | Closed | Open | Open | Open |
| Division (等) | III | III | III | III |
| Fanqie | 府尾切 | 以脂切 | 踈舉切 | 息兹切 |
| Baxter | pj+jX | yij | srjoX | si |
| Reconstructions |||||
| Zhengzhang Shangfang | /pʉi$^X$/ | /jiɪ/ | /ʃɨʌ$^X$/ | /sɨ/ |
| Pan Wuyun | /pʷɨi$^X$/ | /ji/ | /ʃiɔ$^X$/ | /sɨ/ |
| Shao Rongfen | /piuəi$^X$/ | /jɪ/ | /ʃiɔ$^X$/ | /sie/ |
| Edwin Pulleyblank | /puj$^X$/ | /ji/ | /ʂɨə̆$^X$/ | /sɨ/ |
| Li Rong | /piuəi$^X$/ | /i/ | /ʃiɔ$^X$/ | /siə/ |
| Wang Li | /pĭwəi$^X$/ | /ji/ | /ʃĭo$^X$/ | /sĭə/ |
| Bernhard Karlgren | /pwe̯i$^X$/ | /i/ | /ʂi̯wo$^X$/ | /si/ |
| Expected Mandarin Reflex | fěi | yí | shǔ | sī |
| Expected Cantonese Reflex | fei$^2$ | ji$^4$ | so$^2$ | si$^1$ |
* Old Chinese
    (Baxter–Sagart): /*pəjʔ ləj s-qʰ<r>aʔ [s]ə/
    (Zhengzhang): /*pɯlʔ lil sqʰraʔ snɯ/
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014) :
| Character | 匪 | 匪 | 夷 | 夷 | 所 | 思 |
| Reading # | 1/2 | 2/2 | 1/2 | 2/2 | 1/2 | 1/1 |
| Modern Beijing (Pinyin) | fěi | fěi | yí | yí | suǒ | sī |
| Middle Chinese | ‹ pjɨj$^X$ › | ‹ pjɨj$^X$ › | ‹ yij › | ‹ yij › | ‹ srjo$^X$ › | ‹ si › |
| Old Chinese | /*pəjʔ/ | /*pəjʔ/ | /*ləj/ | /*ləj/ | /*s-qʰ<r>aʔ/ | /*[s]ə/ |
| English | bamboo basket | bandit | level, peaceful | foreigner (especially to the east) | place (n.); that which | think |
| 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 | 匪 | 夷 | 所 | 思 |
| Reading # | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/2 |
| No. | 3085 | 14862 | 5306 | 13835 |
| Phonetic component | 非 | 夷 | 戸 | 囟 |
| Rime group | 微 | 脂 | 魚 | 之 |
| Rime subdivision | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Corresponding MC rime | 匪 | 姨 | 所 | 思 |
| Old Chinese | /*pɯlʔ/ | /*lil/ | /*sqʰraʔ/ | /*snɯ/ |

### Idiom

匪夷所思
* not what an ordinary person can imagine; unimaginable; unusual; fantastic