DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

之乎者也

Mandarin · pinyin zhī hū zhě yě

(lit.) 之 zhī, 乎 hū, 者 zhě and 也 yě (four grammatical particles of Classical Chinese) (idiom)
(fig.) archaic expressions

Characters in this entry

之: zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
乎: hū · interrogative or exclamatory final particle
者: zhě · that which; he who; those who
也: yě · also; classical final particle of strong affirmation or identity

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

1–1–3–3 · zhi1 hu1 zhe3 ye3

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

4character links5source references

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

zi1 fu4 ze2 jaa5

Cantonese word readings for 之乎者也. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

zi1 fu4 ze2 jaa5

Pleco · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Word reading; meanings not aligned.

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

(metonymic) unintelligible speech or article filled with archaisms; pedantic expressions; grandiloquent speech; semi-incomprehensible talk