焉知

Chinese

		where; how	to know; to be aware
simp. and trad. (焉知)		焉	知

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): yānzhī

  (Zhuyin): ㄧㄢ ㄓ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): jin¹ zi¹

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)
    • Hanyu Pinyin: yānzhī
    • Zhuyin: ㄧㄢ ㄓ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: yanjhih
    • Wade–Giles: yen¹-chih¹
    • Yale: yān-jr̄
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: ianjy
    • Palladius: яньчжи (janʹčži)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jɛn⁵⁵ ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵/
    • Homophones:

      [Show/Hide]
      edit edit 焉知 胭脂 閼氏／阏氏

• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: jin¹ zi¹
    • Yale: yīn jī
    • Cantonese Pinyin: jin¹ dzi¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: yin¹ ji¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jiːn⁵⁵ t͡siː⁵⁵/
    • Homophones:

      edit edit 焉知 胭脂

Adverb

焉知

1. (literary) how is one to know

   • 未知生，焉知死。 [Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]

     From: The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Wèizhī shēng, yānzhī sǐ. [Pinyin]

     While you do not know life, how can you know about death?

Derived terms

• 塞翁失馬，焉知非福／塞翁失马，焉知非福 (sàiwēng shī mǎ, yānzhī fēi fú)