哀哉

Chinese

		sorrow; grief; pity sorrow; grief; pity; to grieve for; to pity; to lament	(exclamatory or interrog. part.)
simp. and trad. (哀哉)		哀	哉

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): āizāi

(Zhuyin): ㄞㄗㄞ
Cantonese (Jyutping): oi¹ zoi¹

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: āizāi
  - Zhuyin: ㄞㄗㄞ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: aizai
  - Wade–Giles: ai¹-tsai¹
  - Yale: āi-dzāi
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: aitzai
  - Palladius: айцзай (ajczaj)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ˀaɪ̯⁵⁵ t͡saɪ̯⁵⁵/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: oi¹ zoi¹
  - Yale: ōi jōi
  - Cantonese Pinyin: oi¹ dzoi¹
  - Guangdong Romanization: oi¹ zoi¹
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɔːi̯⁵⁵ t͡sɔːi̯⁵⁵/

Middle Chinese: 'oj tsoj

Rime
Character	哀	哉
Reading #	1/1	1/1
Initial (聲)	影 (34)	精 (13)
Final (韻)	咍 (41)	咍 (41)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	I	I
Fanqie	烏開切	祖才切
Baxter	'oj	tsoj
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ʔʌi/	/t͡sʌi/
Pan Wuyun	/ʔəi/	/t͡səi/
Shao Rongfen	/ʔɒi/	/t͡sɒi/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ʔəj/	/t͡səj/
Li Rong	/ʔᴀi/	/t͡sᴀi/
Wang Li	/ɒi/	/t͡sɒi/
Bernhard Karlgren	/ʔɑ̆i/	/t͡sɑ̆i/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	āi	zāi
Expected Cantonese Reflex	oi¹	zoi¹

Old Chinese
(Baxter–Sagart): /*ʔˤəj [ts]ˤə/

(Zhengzhang): /*qɯːl ʔslɯː/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	哀	哉	哉
Reading #	1/1	1/2	2/2
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	āi	zāi	zāi
Middle Chinese	‹ ʔoj ›	‹ tsoj ›	‹ tsoj ›
Old Chinese	/*ʔˁəj/	/*[ts]ˁə/	/*[ts]ˁə/
English	to pity; sad	begin	(particle)
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. [t] as coda may in fact be -t or -p; Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	哀	哉
Reading #	1/1	1/1
No.	14835	16490
Phonetic component	衣	
Rime group	微	之
Rime subdivision	1	0
Corresponding MC rime	哀	烖
Old Chinese	/*qɯːl/	/*ʔslɯː/

Interjection

哀哉

(Classical) How sad!
- 哀哉！死者而用生者之器。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, trad. and simp.]
  From: The Book of Rites, c. 4^th – 2^nd century BCE
  Āizāi! Sǐzhě ér yòng shēngzhě zhī qì. [Pinyin]
  (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Derived terms

嗚呼哀哉 / 呜呼哀哉 (wūhū'āizāi)

Japanese

Kanji in this term
哀	哉
かな(しい) Grade: S	かな Jinmeiyō
kun'yomi

For pronunciation and definitions of 哀哉 – see the following entry: かなしいかな

(The following entry does not have a page created for it yet: かなしいかな.)