不幸而言中

Chinese

		unfortunate; sad; unfortunately unfortunate; sad; unfortunately; sadly	and; as well as; but (not) and; as well as; but (not); yet (not); (shows causal relation); (shows change of state); (shows contrast)	to have one's words prove to be prophetic
simp. and trad. (不幸而言中)		不幸	而	言中

Etymology

From the reordering and rebracketing of the following phrase in 《左傳·定公十五年》:

夏五月壬申，公薨。仲尼曰：「賜不幸言而中，是使賜多言者也。」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

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夏五月壬申，公薨。仲尼曰：「赐不幸言而中，是使赐多言者也。」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: Commentary of Zuo, c. 4^th century BCE

Xià wǔyuè Rén Shēn, Gōng hōng. Zhòngní yuē: “Cì bùxìng yán ér zhòng, shì shǐ Cì duōyán zhě yě.” [Pinyin]

It was summer, on the day of Ren-Shen of the fifth month, that the Duke died. Zhongni said: "As ill fortune had it, Ci spoke of this, and his words turned out to be true. It is coincidences like this that made Ci speak too much."

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): bùxìng ér yánzhòng

  (Zhuyin): ㄅㄨˋ ㄒㄧㄥˋ ㄦˊ ㄧㄢˊ ㄓㄨㄥˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): bat¹ hang⁶ ji⁴ jin⁴ zung³

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: bùxìng ér yánzhòng [Phonetic: búxìng ér yánzhòng]
    • Zhuyin: ㄅㄨˋ ㄒㄧㄥˋ ㄦˊ ㄧㄢˊ ㄓㄨㄥˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: bùsìng ér yánjhòng
    • Wade–Giles: pu⁴-hsing⁴ êrh² yen²-chung⁴
    • Yale: bù-syìng ér yán-jùng
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: bushinq erl yanjonq
    • Palladius: бусин эр яньчжун (busin er janʹčžun)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /pu⁵¹⁻³⁵ ɕiŋ⁵¹ ˀɤɻ³⁵ jɛn³⁵ ʈ͡ʂʊŋ⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: bat¹ hang⁶ ji⁴ jin⁴ zung³
    • Yale: bāt hahng yìh yìhn jung
    • Cantonese Pinyin: bat⁷ hang⁶ ji⁴ jin⁴ dzung³
    • Guangdong Romanization: bed¹ heng⁶ yi⁴ yin⁴ zung³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /pɐt̚⁵ hɐŋ²² jiː²¹ jiːn²¹ t͡sʊŋ³³/

Idiom

不幸而言中

1. the prophecy unfortunately comes true