Sinograph Addenda · Signs
乎really · hū · the question-breath that ends classical questions
really
Where it comes from
A rising breath-mark, by the received account — the spoken
lift at the end of a classical question. Rank 136; with 不not · bù · not — the plain negation亦also · yì · also, likewise — the classical 'too' it
makes the canon’s gentlest rhetorical frame: “is it not…?”
Taught in the master’s-opening chapter.
How to remember it
The eyebrow at the end of the sentence: really? Hear the
pitch rise and let the question hang.
In the wild
學learn · xué · to learn, study; learning而and-then · ér · and, and then, but — the clause-linker時season · shí · season, time; timely, at the proper time習之of · zhī · of; him, her, it — the classical linker and object，不not · bù · not — the plain negation亦also · yì · also, likewise — the classical 'too'說乎really · hū · the question-breath that ends classical questions？xué ér shí xí zhī, bù yì yuè hū"to learn, and in season practice it — is that not a pleasure?" — 乎really · hū · the question-breath that ends classical questions hanging the canon's first question in the air
Analects 1.1.
urn:nabu:kanripo:KR1h0004:001:1a · license: attribution.