之乎者也 zhī hū zhě yě — (mockery of) pedantic, bookish language

之乎者也
zhī hū zhě yě

Characters: 之 · 乎 · 者 · 也

Definitions

  1. (mockery of) pedantic, bookish language

More definitions

CC-CEDICT

  1. (lit.) 之[zhi1], 乎[hu1], 者[zhe3] and 也[ye3] (four grammatical particles of Classical Chinese) (idiom)
  2. (fig.) archaic expressions

ExtDict

  1. 这四个字都是文言虚词，讽刺人说话喜欢咬文嚼字。也形容半文不白的话或文章。

Examples

  • 他满嘴之乎者也，让人听了别扭。

    He peppered his speech with particles of classical Chinese, which sounded affected.

  • 说话应通俗易懂，不必之乎者也。

    One should speak plainly; there is no need for pedantic classical flourishes.