之乎者也
zhī hū zhě yě
literary jargon; bookish talk
Character by character
之zhī
zhi
zhi
乎hū
hu
hu
者zhě
zhe
zhe
也yě
ye
ye
Example
他一开口就之乎者也，谁也听不懂。
The moment he opens his mouth it is all classical jargon, and nobody understands.
Tone: negative (criticism).
Usage and origin
The four commonest classical particles, used to mock someone who talks like an old book.
Learn this in Lesson 206 · HSK 9+: 文言入门：之乎者也 (Classical Chinese: the four little words)
A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. This lesson is free.
Open the lesson →