# 皇天后土
## Chinese

| | | the great and almighty heavens above; oh my God | earth god; Houtu; the vast earth |
| simp. and trad. (皇天后土) | simp. and trad. (皇天后土) | 皇天 | 后土 |

### Pronunciation

* Mandarin
    (Pinyin): huángtiānhòutǔ
    (Zhuyin): ㄏㄨㄤˊ ㄊㄧㄢ ㄏㄡˋ ㄊㄨˇ
* Cantonese (Jyutping): wong$^4$ tin$^1$ hau$^6$ tou$^2$
* Mandarin
** (Standard Chinese)
*** Hanyu Pinyin: huángtiānhòutǔ
*** Zhuyin: ㄏㄨㄤˊ ㄊㄧㄢ ㄏㄡˋ ㄊㄨˇ
*** Tongyong Pinyin: huángtianhòutǔ
*** Wade–Giles: huang$^2$-tʻien$^1$-hou$^4$-tʻu$^3$
*** Yale: hwáng-tyān-hòu-tǔ
*** Gwoyeu Romatzyh: hwangtianhowtuu
*** Palladius: хуантяньхоуту (xuantjanʹxoutu)
*** Sinological IPA : /xu̯ɑŋ³⁵ tʰi̯ɛn⁵⁵ xoʊ̯⁵¹ tʰu²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
* Cantonese
** (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
*** Jyutping: wong$^4$ tin$^1$ hau$^6$ tou$^2$
*** Yale: wòhng tīn hauh tóu
*** Cantonese Pinyin: wong$^4$ tin$^1$ hau$^6$ tou$^2$
*** Guangdong Romanization: wong$^4$ tin$^1$ heo$^6$ tou$^2$
*** Sinological IPA : /wɔːŋ²¹ tʰiːn⁵⁵ hɐu̯²² tʰou̯³⁵/
* Middle Chinese: hwang then huwX|huwH thuX
Rime :
| Character | 皇 | 天 | 后 | 后 | 土 |
| Reading # | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/2 | 2/2 | 1/2 |
| Initial (聲) | 匣 (33) | 透 (6) | 匣 (33) | 匣 (33) | 透 (6) |
| Final (韻) | 唐 (102) | 先 (85) | 侯 (137) | 侯 (137) | 模 (23) |
| Tone (調) | Level (Ø) | Level (Ø) | Rising (X) | Departing (H) | Rising (X) |
| Openness (開合) | Closed | Open | Open | Open | Open |
| Division (等) | I | IV | I | I | I |
| Fanqie | 胡光切 | 他前切 | 胡口切 | 胡遘切 | 他魯切 |
| Baxter | hwang | then | huwX | huwH | thuX |
| Reconstructions ||||||
| Zhengzhang Shangfang | /ɦwɑŋ/ | /tʰen/ | /ɦəu$^X$/ | /ɦəu$^H$/ | /tʰuo$^X$/ |
| Pan Wuyun | /ɦʷɑŋ/ | /tʰen/ | /ɦəu$^X$/ | /ɦəu$^H$/ | /tʰuo$^X$/ |
| Shao Rongfen | /ɣuɑŋ/ | /tʰɛn/ | /ɣəu$^X$/ | /ɣəu$^H$/ | /tʰo$^X$/ |
| Edwin Pulleyblank | /ɦwaŋ/ | /tʰɛn/ | /ɦəw$^X$/ | /ɦəw$^H$/ | /tʰɔ$^X$/ |
| Li Rong | /ɣuɑŋ/ | /tʰen/ | /ɣu$^X$/ | /ɣu$^H$/ | /tʰo$^X$/ |
| Wang Li | /ɣuɑŋ/ | /tʰien/ | /ɣəu$^X$/ | /ɣəu$^H$/ | /tʰu$^X$/ |
| Bernhard Karlgren | /ɣwɑŋ/ | /tʰien/ | /ɣə̯u$^X$/ | /ɣə̯u$^H$/ | /tʰuo$^X$/ |
| Expected Mandarin Reflex | huáng | tiān | hòu | hòu | tǔ |
| Expected Cantonese Reflex | wong$^4$ | tin$^1$ | hau$^6$ | hau$^6$ | tou$^2$ |
* Old Chinese
    (Baxter–Sagart): /*[ɢ]ʷˤaŋ l̥ˤi[n] ɢˤ(r)oʔ tʰˤaʔ/
    (Zhengzhang): /*ɡʷaːŋ qʰl'iːn ɡoːʔ|ɡoːs l̥ʰaːʔ/
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014) :
| Character | 皇 | 天 | 后 | 土 |
| Reading # | 2/2 | 1/2 | 1/1 | 1/1 |
| Modern Beijing (Pinyin) | huáng | tiān | hòu | tǔ |
| Middle Chinese | ‹ hwang › | ‹ then › | ‹ huw$^X$ › | ‹ thu$^X$ › |
| Old Chinese | /*[ɢ]ʷˁaŋ/ | /*l̥ˁi[n]/ | /*ɢˁ(r)oʔ/ | /*tʰˁaʔ/ |
| English | sovereign | heaven | sovereign; queen | earth |
| 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 | 皇 | 天 | 后 | 后 | 土 |
| Reading # | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/2 | 2/2 | 1/2 |
| No. | 12696 | 12387 | 5168 | 5172 | 12499 |
| Phonetic component | 王 | 天 | 后 | 后 | 土 |
| Rime group | 陽 | 眞 | 侯 | 侯 | 魚 |
| Rime subdivision | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Corresponding MC rime | 黃 | 天 | 厚 | 𠋫 | 土 |
| Old Chinese | /*ɡʷaːŋ/ | /*qʰl'iːn/ | /*ɡoːʔ/ | /*ɡoːs/ | /*l̥ʰaːʔ/ |
| Notes | 禮王制鄭注冕屬， 金文象羽冠，王聲；或雲象日射輝則爲暀晃初文 | | | | |

### Idiom

皇天后土
* the gods of heaven and earth
    From: c. 267, 李密 (Li Mi),《陳情表》, translated by Luo Jingguo（罗经国）
    Chén zhī xīnkǔ, fēidú shǔ zhī rénshì jí èr zhōu mùbó suǒjiàn míngzhī; huángtiānhòutǔ, shí suǒ gòng jiàn. [Pinyin]
    Not only do the people of Shu, but also the officials of Liang and Ye know my situation well. Heaven and Earth, too, bear witness to my misery.
    From: 820 January 19, 劉禹錫 (Liu Yuxi), 《祭柳員外文》
    Huángtiānhòutǔ, húnìng rěn cǐ! Zhī bēi wúyì, nài hèn wúyǐ. [Pinyin]
    O Heaven and Earth, how could you bear to let this happen? Though I know grieving is useless, I cannot help but harbor endless sorrow and regret.