# 道聽塗說
## Chinese

| | | direction; way; methoddirection; way; method; road; path; principle; truth; reason; skill; Tao (of Taoism); a measure word; to say; to speak; to talk | let; allow; listenlet; allow; listen; hear; obey | Alternative form of 途 (tú) | to speak; to say; persuade (politically) |
| trad. (道聽塗說) | trad. (道聽塗說) | 道 | 聽 | 塗 | 說 |
| simp. (道听涂说) | simp. (道听涂说) | 道 | 听 | 涂 | 说 |
| alternative forms | alternative forms | 道聽涂說／道听涂说 道聽途說／道听途说 道聽途説／道听途说 PRC standard | 道聽涂說／道听涂说 道聽途說／道听途说 道聽途説／道听途说 PRC standard | 道聽涂說／道听涂说 道聽途說／道听途说 道聽途説／道听途说 PRC standard | 道聽涂說／道听涂说 道聽途說／道听途说 道聽途説／道听途说 PRC standard |
| Literally: “to tell, as one go along, what they have heard on the way”. ||||||

### Etymology

From the Analects, Book 17 (《論語·陽貨》):
    子曰：「道聽而塗說，德之棄也。」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]子曰：「道听而涂说，德之弃也。」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]From: The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE, translated based on James Legge's versionZǐyuē: “Dào tīng ér tú shuō, dé zhī qì yě.” [Pinyin]The Master said, "To tell, as we go along, what we have heard on the way, is to cast away our virtue."

### Pronunciation

* Mandarin
    (Pinyin): dàotīngtúshuō
    (Zhuyin): ㄉㄠˋ ㄊㄧㄥ ㄊㄨˊ ㄕㄨㄛ
* Cantonese (Jyutping): dou$^6$ ting$^3$ tou$^4$ syut$^3$ / dou$^6$ ting$^1$ tou$^4$ syut$^3$
* Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): tō-theng-tô͘-soat
* Mandarin
** (Standard Chinese)
*** Hanyu Pinyin: dàotīngtúshuō
*** Zhuyin: ㄉㄠˋ ㄊㄧㄥ ㄊㄨˊ ㄕㄨㄛ
*** Tongyong Pinyin: dàotingtúshuo
*** Wade–Giles: tao$^4$-tʻing$^1$-tʻu$^2$-shuo$^1$
*** Yale: dàu-tīng-tú-shwō
*** Gwoyeu Romatzyh: dawtingtwushuo
*** Palladius: даотинтушо (daotintušo)
*** Sinological IPA : /tɑʊ̯⁵¹ tʰiŋ⁵⁵ tʰu³⁵ ʂu̯ɔ⁵⁵/
* Cantonese
** (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
*** Jyutping: dou$^6$ ting$^3$ tou$^4$ syut$^3$ / dou$^6$ ting$^1$ tou$^4$ syut$^3$
*** Yale: douh ting tòuh syut / douh tīng tòuh syut
*** Cantonese Pinyin: dou$^6$ ting$^3$ tou$^4$ syt$^8$ / dou$^6$ ting$^1$ tou$^4$ syt$^8$
*** Guangdong Romanization: dou$^6$ ting$^3$ tou$^4$ xud$^3$ / dou$^6$ ting$^1$ tou$^4$ xud$^3$
*** Sinological IPA : /tou̯²² tʰɪŋ³³ tʰou̯²¹ syːt̚³/, /tou̯²² tʰɪŋ⁵⁵ tʰou̯²¹ syːt̚³/
* Southern Min
** (Hokkien: Xiamen)
*** Pe̍h-ōe-jī: tō-theng-tô͘-soat
*** Tâi-lô: tō-thing-tôo-suat
*** Phofsit Daibuun: doixtengdosoad
*** IPA (Xiamen): /to²²⁻²¹ tʰiɪŋ⁴⁴⁻²² tɔ²⁴⁻²² suat̚³²/
* Middle Chinese: dawX theng du sywet
Rime :
| Character | 道 | 聽 | 塗 | 說 |
| Reading # | 1/1 | 1/2 | 1/2 | 3/3 |
| Initial (聲) | 定 (7) | 透 (6) | 定 (7) | 書 (26) |
| Final (韻) | 豪 (89) | 青 (125) | 模 (23) | 薛 (82) |
| Tone (調) | Rising (X) | Level (Ø) | Level (Ø) | Checked (Ø) |
| Openness (開合) | Open | Open | Open | Closed |
| Division (等) | I | IV | I | III |
| Fanqie | 徒晧切 | 他丁切 | 同都切 | 失爇切 |
| Baxter | dawX | theng | du | sywet |
| Reconstructions |||||
| Zhengzhang Shangfang | /dɑu$^X$/ | /tʰeŋ/ | /duo/ | /ɕiuᴇt̚/ |
| Pan Wuyun | /dɑu$^X$/ | /tʰeŋ/ | /duo/ | /ɕʷiɛt̚/ |
| Shao Rongfen | /dɑu$^X$/ | /tʰɛŋ/ | /do/ | /ɕjuæt̚/ |
| Edwin Pulleyblank | /daw$^X$/ | /tʰɛjŋ/ | /dɔ/ | /ɕwiat̚/ |
| Li Rong | /dɑu$^X$/ | /tʰeŋ/ | /do/ | /ɕiuɛt̚/ |
| Wang Li | /dɑu$^X$/ | /tʰieŋ/ | /du/ | /ɕĭuɛt̚/ |
| Bernhard Karlgren | /dʱɑu$^X$/ | /tʰieŋ/ | /dʱuo/ | /ɕi̯wɛt̚/ |
| Expected Mandarin Reflex | dào | tīng | tú | shuo |
| Expected Cantonese Reflex | dou$^6$ | ting$^1$ | tou$^4$ | syut$^3$ |
* Old Chinese
    (Baxter–Sagart): /*[kə.l]ˤuʔ l̥ˤeŋ lˤa l̥ot/
    (Zhengzhang): /*l'uːʔ l̥ʰeːŋ l'aː hljod/
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014) :
| Character | 道 | 聽 | 塗 | 說 |
| Reading # | 2/2 | 1/2 | 2/2 | 1/1 |
| Modern Beijing (Pinyin) | dào | tīng | tú | shuō |
| Middle Chinese | ‹ daw$^X$ › | ‹ theng › | ‹ du › | ‹ sywet › |
| Old Chinese | /*[kə.l]ˁuʔ/ | /*l̥ˁeŋ/ | /*lˁa/ | /*l̥ot/ |
| English | way | listen | road | speak, explain |
| 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 | 道 | 聽 | 塗 | 說 |
| Reading # | 1/1 | 1/2 | 2/2 | 2/3 |
| No. | 11669 | 11392 | 15774 | 2571 |
| Phonetic component | 首 | 聖 | 余 | 兑 |
| Rime group | 幽 | 耕 | 魚 | 月 |
| Rime subdivision | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Corresponding MC rime | 道 | 汀 | 徒 | 說 |
| Old Chinese | /*l'uːʔ/ | /*l̥ʰeːŋ/ | /*l'aː/ | /*hljod/ |
| Notes | | 甲金文象耳對口， 後繁化加心壬聲， 右上即卜口繁化 | | |

### Idiom

道聽塗說
* rumor; hearsay
    From: 1937, 毛澤東 (Mao Zedong), 《實踐論》 (On Practice), 《毛澤東選集》. English translation based on the Foreign Languages Press edition
    Shìshàng zuì kěxiào de shì nàxiē “zhīshi lǐshǒu”, yǒu le dàotīngtúshuō de yīzhībànjiě, biàn zìfēng wéi “tiānxiàdìyī”, shì zújiàn qí bùzìliàng éryǐ. [Pinyin]
    The most ridiculous person in the world is the “know all” who picks up a smattering of hearsay knowledge and proclaims themselves “the world's Number One authority”; this merely shows that they have not taken a proper measure of themselves.

#### Descendants

* → Japanese: 道(どう)聴(ちょう)塗(と)説(せつ) (dōchōtosetsu)
* → Korean: 도청도설(道聽塗說) (docheongdoseol)