子虛烏有

Chinese

		nonexistent thing	nonexistent person or thing; naught; nothing
trad. (子虛烏有)		子虛	烏有
simp. (子虚乌有)		子虚	乌有

Etymology

Two fictional characters in 子虛賦.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): zǐxū-wūyǒu

  (Zhuyin): ㄗˇ ㄒㄩ ㄨ ㄧㄡˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): zi² heoi¹ wu¹ jau⁵

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: zǐxū-wūyǒu
    • Zhuyin: ㄗˇ ㄒㄩ ㄨ ㄧㄡˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: zǐhsyuwuyǒu
    • Wade–Giles: tzŭ³-hsü¹-wu¹-yu³
    • Yale: dž-syū-wū-yǒu
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tzyyshiuuyeou
    • Palladius: цзысюйую (czysjujuju)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sz̩²¹⁴⁻²¹ ɕy⁵⁵ u⁵⁵ joʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: zi² heoi¹ wu¹ jau⁵
    • Yale: jí hēui wū yáuh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: dzi² hoey¹ wu¹ jau⁵
    • Guangdong Romanization: ji² hêu¹ wu¹ yeo⁵
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡siː³⁵ hɵy̯⁵⁵ wuː⁵⁵ jɐu̯¹³/

Idiom

子虛烏有

1. (figurative) fictitious; nonexistent; made-up; fabricated

Synonyms

• (Hokkien) 有雲無影／有云无影