"顧左右而言他" meaning in All languages combined

See 顧左右而言他 on Wiktionary

Phrase [Chinese]

IPA: /ku⁵¹ t͡su̯ɔ²¹⁴⁻²¹ joʊ̯⁵¹ ˀɤɻ³⁵ jɛn³⁵ tʰä⁵⁵/ [Mandarin, Sinological-IPA], /kuː³³ t͡sɔː³⁵ jɐu̯²² jiː²¹ jiːn²¹ tʰaː⁵⁵/ [Cantonese, Sinological-IPA], /ku⁵¹ t͡su̯ɔ²¹⁴⁻²¹ joʊ̯⁵¹ ˀɤɻ³⁵ jɛn³⁵ tʰä⁵⁵/, /kuː³³ t͡sɔː³⁵ jɐu̯²² jiː²¹ jiːn²¹ tʰaː⁵⁵/ Chinese transliterations: gù zuǒyòu ér yán tā [Mandarin, Pinyin], ㄍㄨˋ ㄗㄨㄛˇ ㄧㄡˋ ㄦˊ ㄧㄢˊ ㄊㄚ [Mandarin, bopomofo], gu³ zo² jau⁶ ji⁴ jin⁴ taa¹ [Cantonese, Jyutping], gù zuǒyòu ér yán tā [Hanyu-Pinyin, Mandarin], gù zuǒyòu ér yán ta [Mandarin, Tongyong-Pinyin], ku⁴ tso³-yu⁴ êrh² yen² tʻa¹ [Mandarin, Wade-Giles], gù dzwǒ-yòu ér yán tā [Mandarin, Yale], guh tzuooyow erl yan ta [Gwoyeu-Romatsyh, Mandarin], гу цзою эр янь та [Mandarin, Palladius], gu czoju er janʹ ta [Mandarin, Palladius], gu jó yauh yìh yìhn tā [Cantonese, Yale], gu³ dzo² jau⁶ ji⁴ jin⁴ taa¹ [Cantonese, Pinyin], gu³ zo² yeo⁶ yi⁴ yin⁴ ta¹ [Cantonese, Guangdong-Romanization] Forms: 顾左右而言他, 王顧左右而言他
Etymology: From Mencius (《孟子·梁惠王下》) Etymology templates: {{lang|zh|(《孟子·梁惠王下》)}} (《孟子·梁惠王下》) Head templates: {{head|zh|idiom}} 顧左右而言他
  1. to try to change the subject of a conversation; to evade the subject under discussion and talk about other affairs; to steer clear of the crucial point Wikipedia link: Mencius (book) Tags: idiomatic Synonyms: 支吾其詞/支吾其词 (zhīwuqící), 支吾其詞 (zhīwuqící), 支吾其词 (zhīwuqící)
{
  "etymology_examples": [
    {
      "english": "[Mencius] said, \"What would you do if your country is not managed well?\" The king looked left and right, then started talking about something else.",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Classical Chinese",
        "Traditional Chinese"
      ],
      "ref": " Mencius, c. 4ᵗʰ century BCE, translated based on James Legge's version",
      "roman": "Yuē: “Sìjìng zhī nèi bù zhì, zé rú zhī hé?” Wáng gù zuǒyòu ér yán tā.",
      "tags": [
        "Pinyin"
      ],
      "text": "曰:「四境之內不治,則如之何?」王顧左右而言他。",
      "type": "quote"
    },
    {
      "english": "[Mencius] said, \"What would you do if your country is not managed well?\" The king looked left and right, then started talking about something else.",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Classical Chinese",
        "Simplified Chinese"
      ],
      "ref": " Mencius, c. 4ᵗʰ century BCE, translated based on James Legge's version",
      "roman": "Yuē: “Sìjìng zhī nèi bù zhì, zé rú zhī hé?” Wáng gù zuǒyòu ér yán tā.",
      "tags": [
        "Pinyin"
      ],
      "text": "曰:「四境之内不治,则如之何?」王顾左右而言他。",
      "type": "quote"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "zh",
        "2": "(《孟子·梁惠王下》)"
      },
      "expansion": "(《孟子·梁惠王下》)",
      "name": "lang"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Mencius (《孟子·梁惠王下》)",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "顾左右而言他",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Simplified Chinese"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "王顧左右而言他"
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "zh",
        "2": "idiom"
      },
      "expansion": "顧左右而言他",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Chinese",
  "lang_code": "zh",
  "literal_meaning": "to look left and right, then talk about something else",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Chinese chengyu derived from Mencius",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Chinese entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "english": "Thus, he scanned the surroundings with his peripheral vision and discovered that the eunuch beside him kept winking at him, so he tried to dodge the question and ended the discussion perfunctorily by saying, \"People are naturally afraid of ghosts.\"",
          "raw_tags": [
            "MSC",
            "Traditional Chinese"
          ],
          "ref": " 2011, 余建明, 《關於地理學的100個故事》 (100 Stories of Geography), page 129",
          "roman": "Yúshì, tā yòng yǎnjiǎo de yúguāng sǎoshì le yīxià sìzhōu, fāxiàn pángbiān tàijiān yě fēnfēn xiàng tā shǐ yǎnsè, biàn gù zuǒyòu ér yán tā, yòng “rén zìrán shì pà guǐ” de huà fūyǎn liǎoshì.",
          "tags": [
            "Pinyin"
          ],
          "text": "於是,他用眼角的餘光掃視了一下四周,發現旁邊太監也紛紛向他使眼色,便顧左右而言他,用「人自然是怕鬼」的話敷衍了事。",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "english": "Thus, he scanned the surroundings with his peripheral vision and discovered that the eunuch beside him kept winking at him, so he tried to dodge the question and ended the discussion perfunctorily by saying, \"People are naturally afraid of ghosts.\"",
          "raw_tags": [
            "MSC",
            "Simplified Chinese"
          ],
          "ref": " 2011, 余建明, 《關於地理學的100個故事》 (100 Stories of Geography), page 129",
          "roman": "Yúshì, tā yòng yǎnjiǎo de yúguāng sǎoshì le yīxià sìzhōu, fāxiàn pángbiān tàijiān yě fēnfēn xiàng tā shǐ yǎnsè, biàn gù zuǒyòu ér yán tā, yòng “rén zìrán shì pà guǐ” de huà fūyǎn liǎoshì.",
          "tags": [
            "Pinyin"
          ],
          "text": "于是,他用眼角的余光扫视了一下四周,发现旁边太监也纷纷向他使眼色,便顾左右而言他,用「人自然是怕鬼」的话敷衍了事。",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "to try to change the subject of a conversation; to evade the subject under discussion and talk about other affairs; to steer clear of the crucial point"
      ],
      "id": "en-顧左右而言他-zh-phrase-jML-Bw-T",
      "links": [
        [
          "try",
          "try"
        ],
        [
          "change",
          "change"
        ],
        [
          "subject",
          "subject"
        ],
        [
          "conversation",
          "conversation"
        ],
        [
          "evade",
          "evade"
        ],
        [
          "talk",
          "talk"
        ],
        [
          "affair",
          "affair"
        ],
        [
          "steer clear of",
          "steer clear of"
        ],
        [
          "crucial",
          "crucial"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "roman": "zhīwuqící",
          "word": "支吾其詞/支吾其词"
        },
        {
          "roman": "zhīwuqící",
          "word": "支吾其詞"
        },
        {
          "roman": "zhīwuqící",
          "word": "支吾其词"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Mencius (book)"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Pinyin"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "gù zuǒyòu ér yán tā"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "bopomofo"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "ㄍㄨˋ ㄗㄨㄛˇ ㄧㄡˋ ㄦˊ ㄧㄢˊ ㄊㄚ"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Cantonese",
        "Jyutping"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "gu³ zo² jau⁶ ji⁴ jin⁴ taa¹"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Hanyu-Pinyin",
        "Mandarin"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "gù zuǒyòu ér yán tā"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Tongyong-Pinyin"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "gù zuǒyòu ér yán ta"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Wade-Giles"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "ku⁴ tso³-yu⁴ êrh² yen² tʻa¹"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Yale"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "gù dzwǒ-yòu ér yán tā"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Gwoyeu-Romatsyh",
        "Mandarin"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "guh tzuooyow erl yan ta"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Palladius"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "гу цзою эр янь та"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Palladius"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "gu czoju er janʹ ta"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ku⁵¹ t͡su̯ɔ²¹⁴⁻²¹ joʊ̯⁵¹ ˀɤɻ³⁵ jɛn³⁵ tʰä⁵⁵/",
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Sinological-IPA"
      ]
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Cantonese",
        "Yale"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "gu jó yauh yìh yìhn tā"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Cantonese",
        "Pinyin"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "gu³ dzo² jau⁶ ji⁴ jin⁴ taa¹"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Cantonese",
        "Guangdong-Romanization"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "gu³ zo² yeo⁶ yi⁴ yin⁴ ta¹"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/kuː³³ t͡sɔː³⁵ jɐu̯²² jiː²¹ jiːn²¹ tʰaː⁵⁵/",
      "tags": [
        "Cantonese",
        "Sinological-IPA"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ku⁵¹ t͡su̯ɔ²¹⁴⁻²¹ joʊ̯⁵¹ ˀɤɻ³⁵ jɛn³⁵ tʰä⁵⁵/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/kuː³³ t͡sɔː³⁵ jɐu̯²² jiː²¹ jiːn²¹ tʰaː⁵⁵/"
    }
  ],
  "word": "顧左右而言他"
}
{
  "etymology_examples": [
    {
      "english": "[Mencius] said, \"What would you do if your country is not managed well?\" The king looked left and right, then started talking about something else.",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Classical Chinese",
        "Traditional Chinese"
      ],
      "ref": " Mencius, c. 4ᵗʰ century BCE, translated based on James Legge's version",
      "roman": "Yuē: “Sìjìng zhī nèi bù zhì, zé rú zhī hé?” Wáng gù zuǒyòu ér yán tā.",
      "tags": [
        "Pinyin"
      ],
      "text": "曰:「四境之內不治,則如之何?」王顧左右而言他。",
      "type": "quote"
    },
    {
      "english": "[Mencius] said, \"What would you do if your country is not managed well?\" The king looked left and right, then started talking about something else.",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Classical Chinese",
        "Simplified Chinese"
      ],
      "ref": " Mencius, c. 4ᵗʰ century BCE, translated based on James Legge's version",
      "roman": "Yuē: “Sìjìng zhī nèi bù zhì, zé rú zhī hé?” Wáng gù zuǒyòu ér yán tā.",
      "tags": [
        "Pinyin"
      ],
      "text": "曰:「四境之内不治,则如之何?」王顾左右而言他。",
      "type": "quote"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "zh",
        "2": "(《孟子·梁惠王下》)"
      },
      "expansion": "(《孟子·梁惠王下》)",
      "name": "lang"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Mencius (《孟子·梁惠王下》)",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "顾左右而言他",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Simplified Chinese"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "王顧左右而言他"
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "zh",
        "2": "idiom"
      },
      "expansion": "顧左右而言他",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Chinese",
  "lang_code": "zh",
  "literal_meaning": "to look left and right, then talk about something else",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Cantonese idioms",
        "Cantonese lemmas",
        "Chinese chengyu derived from Mencius",
        "Chinese entries with incorrect language header",
        "Chinese idioms",
        "Chinese lemmas",
        "Chinese terms spelled with 他",
        "Chinese terms spelled with 右",
        "Chinese terms spelled with 左",
        "Chinese terms spelled with 而",
        "Chinese terms spelled with 言",
        "Chinese terms spelled with 顧",
        "Chinese terms with IPA pronunciation",
        "Mandarin idioms",
        "Mandarin lemmas",
        "Mandarin terms with quotations",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "english": "Thus, he scanned the surroundings with his peripheral vision and discovered that the eunuch beside him kept winking at him, so he tried to dodge the question and ended the discussion perfunctorily by saying, \"People are naturally afraid of ghosts.\"",
          "raw_tags": [
            "MSC",
            "Traditional Chinese"
          ],
          "ref": " 2011, 余建明, 《關於地理學的100個故事》 (100 Stories of Geography), page 129",
          "roman": "Yúshì, tā yòng yǎnjiǎo de yúguāng sǎoshì le yīxià sìzhōu, fāxiàn pángbiān tàijiān yě fēnfēn xiàng tā shǐ yǎnsè, biàn gù zuǒyòu ér yán tā, yòng “rén zìrán shì pà guǐ” de huà fūyǎn liǎoshì.",
          "tags": [
            "Pinyin"
          ],
          "text": "於是,他用眼角的餘光掃視了一下四周,發現旁邊太監也紛紛向他使眼色,便顧左右而言他,用「人自然是怕鬼」的話敷衍了事。",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "english": "Thus, he scanned the surroundings with his peripheral vision and discovered that the eunuch beside him kept winking at him, so he tried to dodge the question and ended the discussion perfunctorily by saying, \"People are naturally afraid of ghosts.\"",
          "raw_tags": [
            "MSC",
            "Simplified Chinese"
          ],
          "ref": " 2011, 余建明, 《關於地理學的100個故事》 (100 Stories of Geography), page 129",
          "roman": "Yúshì, tā yòng yǎnjiǎo de yúguāng sǎoshì le yīxià sìzhōu, fāxiàn pángbiān tàijiān yě fēnfēn xiàng tā shǐ yǎnsè, biàn gù zuǒyòu ér yán tā, yòng “rén zìrán shì pà guǐ” de huà fūyǎn liǎoshì.",
          "tags": [
            "Pinyin"
          ],
          "text": "于是,他用眼角的余光扫视了一下四周,发现旁边太监也纷纷向他使眼色,便顾左右而言他,用「人自然是怕鬼」的话敷衍了事。",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "to try to change the subject of a conversation; to evade the subject under discussion and talk about other affairs; to steer clear of the crucial point"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "try",
          "try"
        ],
        [
          "change",
          "change"
        ],
        [
          "subject",
          "subject"
        ],
        [
          "conversation",
          "conversation"
        ],
        [
          "evade",
          "evade"
        ],
        [
          "talk",
          "talk"
        ],
        [
          "affair",
          "affair"
        ],
        [
          "steer clear of",
          "steer clear of"
        ],
        [
          "crucial",
          "crucial"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Mencius (book)"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Pinyin"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "gù zuǒyòu ér yán tā"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "bopomofo"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "ㄍㄨˋ ㄗㄨㄛˇ ㄧㄡˋ ㄦˊ ㄧㄢˊ ㄊㄚ"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Cantonese",
        "Jyutping"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "gu³ zo² jau⁶ ji⁴ jin⁴ taa¹"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Hanyu-Pinyin",
        "Mandarin"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "gù zuǒyòu ér yán tā"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Tongyong-Pinyin"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "gù zuǒyòu ér yán ta"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Wade-Giles"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "ku⁴ tso³-yu⁴ êrh² yen² tʻa¹"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Yale"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "gù dzwǒ-yòu ér yán tā"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Gwoyeu-Romatsyh",
        "Mandarin"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "guh tzuooyow erl yan ta"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Palladius"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "гу цзою эр янь та"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Palladius"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "gu czoju er janʹ ta"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ku⁵¹ t͡su̯ɔ²¹⁴⁻²¹ joʊ̯⁵¹ ˀɤɻ³⁵ jɛn³⁵ tʰä⁵⁵/",
      "tags": [
        "Mandarin",
        "Sinological-IPA"
      ]
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Cantonese",
        "Yale"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "gu jó yauh yìh yìhn tā"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Cantonese",
        "Pinyin"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "gu³ dzo² jau⁶ ji⁴ jin⁴ taa¹"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Cantonese",
        "Guangdong-Romanization"
      ],
      "zh-pron": "gu³ zo² yeo⁶ yi⁴ yin⁴ ta¹"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/kuː³³ t͡sɔː³⁵ jɐu̯²² jiː²¹ jiːn²¹ tʰaː⁵⁵/",
      "tags": [
        "Cantonese",
        "Sinological-IPA"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ku⁵¹ t͡su̯ɔ²¹⁴⁻²¹ joʊ̯⁵¹ ˀɤɻ³⁵ jɛn³⁵ tʰä⁵⁵/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/kuː³³ t͡sɔː³⁵ jɐu̯²² jiː²¹ jiːn²¹ tʰaː⁵⁵/"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "roman": "zhīwuqící",
      "word": "支吾其詞/支吾其词"
    },
    {
      "roman": "zhīwuqící",
      "word": "支吾其詞"
    },
    {
      "roman": "zhīwuqící",
      "word": "支吾其词"
    }
  ],
  "word": "顧左右而言他"
}

Download raw JSONL data for 顧左右而言他 meaning in All languages combined (6.0kB)

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  "path": [
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  "section": "Chinese",
  "subsection": "",
  "title": "顧左右而言他",
  "trace": ""
}

{
  "called_from": "pronunciations/296/20230324",
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  "path": [
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  ],
  "section": "Chinese",
  "subsection": "",
  "title": "顧左右而言他",
  "trace": ""
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.