左袒

Chinese

		left	to bare
simp. and trad. (左袒)		左	袒

Etymology

From a story recorded in the Records of the Grand Historian:

太尉將之入軍門，行令軍中曰：「為呂氏右袒，為劉氏左袒。」軍中皆左袒為劉氏。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

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太尉将之入军门，行令军中曰：「为吕氏右袒，为刘氏左袒。」军中皆左袒为刘氏。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE

Tàiwèi jiāng zhī rù jūnmén, xínglìng jūn zhōng yuē: “Wèi Lǚ shì yòu tǎn, wèi Liú shì zuǒ tǎn.” Jūn zhōng jiē zuǒ tǎn wèi Liú shì. [Pinyin]

(please add an English translation of this usage example)

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): zuǒtǎn

  (Zhuyin): ㄗㄨㄛˇ ㄊㄢˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): zo² taan²

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: zuǒtǎn [Phonetic: zuótǎn]
    • Zhuyin: ㄗㄨㄛˇ ㄊㄢˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: zuǒtǎn
    • Wade–Giles: tso³-tʻan³
    • Yale: dzwǒ-tǎn
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tzuootaan
    • Palladius: цзотань (czotanʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡su̯ɔ²¹⁴⁻³⁵ tʰän²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: zo² taan²
    • Yale: jó táan
    • Cantonese Pinyin: dzo² taan²
    • Guangdong Romanization: zo² tan²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sɔː³⁵ tʰaːn³⁵/

Verb

左袒

1. (literary) to side with (someone); to take sides; to discriminate in favor of; to show prejudice (to a particular party)

Synonyms

• 偏袒 (piāntǎn)