越鳧楚乙

Chinese

		to exceed; to climb over; to surpass to exceed; to climb over; to surpass; the more ... the more	wild duck; to swim	distinct; clear; orderly distinct; clear; orderly; pain; suffering; ancient place name; surname	2nd heavenly stem
trad. (越鳧楚乙)		越	鳧	楚	乙
simp. (越凫楚乙)		越	凫	楚	乙
Literally: “Yue duck, Chu swallow”.

Etymology

From a passage in the Book of Southern Qi. 乙 (yǐ) is an orthographic variant of 𠃉, more commonly written as 鳦／𱉇 (yǐ) today.

昔有鴻飛天首，積遠難亮。越人以爲鳧，楚人以爲乙。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

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昔有鸿飞天首，积远难亮。越人以为凫，楚人以为乙。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: The Book of Southern Qi, by Xiao Zixian, 6^th century CE

Xī yǒu hóng fēi tiān shǒu, jī yuǎn nán liàng. Yuè rén yǐwèi fú, Chǔ rén yǐwèi yǐ. [Pinyin]

In the past there was a swan flying towards the sky, but it was extremely far away and could not be seen easily. The people of Yue thought it was a duck, while the people of Chu thought it was a swallow.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): yuèfúchǔyǐ

  (Zhuyin): ㄩㄝˋ ㄈㄨˊ ㄔㄨˇ ㄧˇ

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: yuèfúchǔyǐ [Phonetic: yuèfúchúyǐ]
    • Zhuyin: ㄩㄝˋ ㄈㄨˊ ㄔㄨˇ ㄧˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: yuèfúchǔyǐ
    • Wade–Giles: yüeh⁴-fu²-chʻu³-i³
    • Yale: ywè-fú-chǔ-yǐ
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: yuehfwuchuuyii
    • Palladius: юэфучуи (juefučui)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɥɛ⁵¹ fu³⁵ ʈ͡ʂʰu²¹⁴⁻³⁵ i²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/

Idiom

越鳧楚乙

1. (literary) to make an incorrect judgment due to one's own subjectivity