嗚呼哀哉

Chinese

		alas; alack; wellaway alas; alack; wellaway; to die; to pass away	How sad!
trad. (嗚呼哀哉)		嗚呼	哀哉
simp. (呜呼哀哉)		呜呼	哀哉
alternative forms		於呼哀哉
Literally: “Alas, how sorrowful!”.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): wūhū'āizāi

  (Zhuyin): ㄨ ㄏㄨ ㄞ ㄗㄞ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): wu¹ fu¹ oi¹ zoi¹
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): o͘-ho͘ ai chai

  (Teochew, Peng'im): u¹ hu⁷ ai¹ zai⁷

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: wūhū'āizāi
    • Zhuyin: ㄨ ㄏㄨ ㄞ ㄗㄞ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: wuhu-aizai
    • Wade–Giles: wu¹-hu¹-ai¹-tsai¹
    • Yale: wū-hū-āi-dzāi
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: uhuaitzai
    • Palladius: уху’айцзай (uxu’ajczaj)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /u⁵⁵ xu⁵⁵ ˀaɪ̯⁵⁵ t͡saɪ̯⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: wu¹ fu¹ oi¹ zoi¹
    • Yale: wū fū ōi jōi
    • Cantonese Pinyin: wu¹ fu¹ oi¹ dzoi¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: wu¹ fu¹ oi¹ zoi¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /wuː⁵⁵ fuː⁵⁵ ɔːi̯⁵⁵ t͡sɔːi̯⁵⁵/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: o͘-ho͘ ai chai
    • Tâi-lô: oo-hoo ai tsai
    • Phofsit Daibuun: o'hof ay zay
    • IPA (Xiamen): /ɔ⁴⁴⁻²² hɔ⁴⁴⁻²² ai⁴⁴⁻²² t͡sai⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /ɔ³³ hɔ³³ ai³³ t͡sai³³/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /ɔ⁴⁴⁻²² hɔ⁴⁴⁻²² ai⁴⁴⁻²² t͡sai⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Taipei): /ɔ⁴⁴⁻³³ hɔ⁴⁴⁻³³ ai⁴⁴⁻³³ t͡sai⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /ɔ⁴⁴⁻³³ hɔ⁴⁴⁻³³ ai⁴⁴⁻³³ t͡sai⁴⁴/
  • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: u¹ hu⁷ ai¹ zai⁷
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: u hū ai tsāi
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /u³³⁻²³ hu¹¹ ai³³⁻²³ t͡sai¹¹/

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• Middle Chinese: 'u xu 'oj tsoj

Rime
Character	嗚	呼	哀	哉
Reading #	1/1	1/1	1/1	1/1
Initial (聲)	影 (34)	曉 (32)	影 (34)	精 (13)
Final (韻)	模 (23)	模 (23)	咍 (41)	咍 (41)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open	Open	Open
Division (等)	I	I	I	I
Fanqie	哀都切	荒烏切	烏開切	祖才切
Baxter	'u	xu	'oj	tsoj
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ʔuo/	/huo/	/ʔʌi/	/t͡sʌi/
Pan Wuyun	/ʔuo/	/huo/	/ʔəi/	/t͡səi/
Shao Rongfen	/ʔo/	/xo/	/ʔɒi/	/t͡sɒi/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ʔɔ/	/hɔ/	/ʔəj/	/t͡səj/
Li Rong	/ʔo/	/xo/	/ʔᴀi/	/t͡sᴀi/
Wang Li	/u/	/xu/	/ɒi/	/t͡sɒi/
Bernhard Karlgren	/ʔuo/	/xuo/	/ʔɑ̆i/	/t͡sɑ̆i/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	wū	hū	āi	zāi
Expected Cantonese Reflex	wu1	fu1	oi1	zoi1

• Old Chinese

  (Zhengzhang): /*qaː  qʰaː  qɯːl  ʔslɯː/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	呼	呼	哀	哉	哉
Reading #	1/2	2/2	1/1	1/2	2/2
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	hū	hù	āi	zāi	zāi
Middle Chinese	‹ xu ›	‹ xuH ›	‹ ʔoj ›	‹ tsoj ›	‹ tsoj ›
Old Chinese	/*qʰˁa/	/*qʰˁa-s/	/*ʔˁəj/	/*[ts]ˁə/	/*[ts]ˁə/
English	call out, shout	call out, shout	to pity; sad	begin	(particle)
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	嗚	呼	哀	哉
Reading #	1/1	1/1	1/1	1/1
No.	13078	5181	14835	16490
Phonetic component	烏	乎	衣	
Rime group	魚	魚	微	之
Rime subdivision	0	0	1	0
Corresponding MC rime	烏	呼	哀	烖
Old Chinese	/*qaː/	/*qʰaː/	/*qɯːl/	/*ʔslɯː/

Interjection

嗚呼哀哉

1. (archaic) alas; alack; wellaway

   • 念爾遘殘，百身何贖？嗚呼哀哉！ [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     念尔遘残，百身何赎？呜呼哀哉！ [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 758 A.D., Yan Zhenqing, Draft of a Requiem to my Nephew (Translation extracted from [1])

     Niàn ěr gòu cán, bǎi shēn hé shú? Wūhū āi zāi! [Pinyin]

     I remember how you met with your cruel death, but could we ransom all those people? Alas, how I grieve!

Idiom

嗚呼哀哉

1. (euphemistic, sometimes humorous or ironic) to die; to pass away

Synonyms

• 一命嗚呼／一命呜呼 (yīmìngwūhū)