虛無縹緲

See also: 虚无缥缈

Chinese

		being nothing; empty; void being nothing; empty; void; nihilistic	high, far-away and appearing indistinctly; dimly discernible; misty
trad. (虛無縹緲)		虛無	縹緲
simp. (虚无缥缈)		虚无	缥缈
alternative forms		虛無縹渺／虚无缥渺虛無飄渺／虚无飘渺

Etymology

Coined by Tang poet Bai Juyi, in The Song of Everlasting Regret:

忽聞海上有仙山，
山在虛無縹緲間。 [Literary Chinese, trad.]

忽闻海上有仙山，
山在虚无缥缈间。 [Literary Chinese, simp.]

From: c. 806, 白居易,《長恨歌》, translated by Witter Bynner

Hū wén hǎishàng yǒu xiānshān,
Shān zài xūwú piāomiǎo jiān. [Pinyin]

And then he heard accounts of an enchanted isle at sea,
A part of the intangible and incorporeal world.

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): xūwúpiāomiǎo, xūwúpiǎomiǎo

(Zhuyin): ㄒㄩㄨˊ ㄆㄧㄠㄇㄧㄠˇ, ㄒㄩㄨˊ ㄆㄧㄠˇ ㄇㄧㄠˇ
Cantonese (Jyutping): heoi¹ mou⁴ piu¹ miu⁵ / heoi¹ mou⁴ piu⁵ miu⁵

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese, Mainland)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: xūwúpiāomiǎo
  - Zhuyin: ㄒㄩㄨˊ ㄆㄧㄠㄇㄧㄠˇ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: syuwúpiaomiǎo
  - Wade–Giles: hsü¹-wu²-pʻiao¹-miao³
  - Yale: syū-wú-pyāu-myǎu
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shiuwupiaumeau
  - Palladius: сюйупяомяо (sjujupjaomjao)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɕy⁵⁵ u³⁵ pʰi̯ɑʊ̯⁵⁵ mi̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
- (Standard Chinese, Taiwan)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: xūwúpiǎomiǎo [Phonetic: xūwúpiáomiǎo]
  - Zhuyin: ㄒㄩㄨˊ ㄆㄧㄠˇ ㄇㄧㄠˇ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: syuwúpiǎomiǎo
  - Wade–Giles: hsü¹-wu²-pʻiao³-miao³
  - Yale: syū-wú-pyǎu-myǎu
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shiuwupeaumeau
  - Palladius: сюйупяомяо (sjujupjaomjao)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɕy⁵⁵ u³⁵ pʰi̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻³⁵ mi̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: heoi¹ mou⁴ piu¹ miu⁵ / heoi¹ mou⁴ piu⁵ miu⁵
  - Yale: hēui mòuh pīu míuh / hēui mòuh píuh míuh
  - Cantonese Pinyin: hoey¹ mou⁴ piu¹ miu⁵ / hoey¹ mou⁴ piu⁵ miu⁵
  - Guangdong Romanization: hêu¹ mou⁴ piu¹ miu⁵ / hêu¹ mou⁴ piu⁵ miu⁵
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /hɵy̯⁵⁵ mou̯²¹ pʰiːu̯⁵⁵ miːu̯¹³/, /hɵy̯⁵⁵ mou̯²¹ pʰiːu̯¹³ miːu̯¹³/

Idiom

虛無縹緲

purely imaginary; entirely unreal; visionary; illusory
- 謫仙狂客何如？看來畢竟歸田好。玉堂無此，三山海上，虛無縹緲。 [Ci, trad.]
  谪仙狂客何如？看来毕竟归田好。玉堂无此，三山海上，虚无缥缈。 [Ci, simp.]
  From: c. 1190s, 劉過,《水龍吟·寄陸放翁》(To the tune of Water Dragon Chant: Sending to Lu You)
  Zhéxiān kuángkè hérú? Kànlái bìjìng guītián hǎo. Yùtáng wú cǐ, sānshān hǎishàng, xūwúpiāomiǎo. [Pinyin]
  Immortal banished from the heavens, wild-eyed poet—
  How does your exile fare? Yet I behold:
  Tilling the earth outshines all earthly bliss.
  Sweeter than jade halls where scholars sip their fame,
  Beyond those three mythic isles adrift amidst the void.
- 2000, Xu Wei, “那一年 [In that Year]”, in 那一年 [In that Year], performed by Xu Wei:
  
  这么多年你还在不停奔跑　眼看着明天依然虚无缥缈 [MSC, simp.]
  這麼多年你還在不停奔跑　眼看著明天依然虛無縹緲 [MSC, trad.]
  Zhème duō nián nǐ hái zài bùtíng bēnpǎo, Yǎnkànzhe míngtiān yīrán xūwúpiāomiǎo [Pinyin]
  You've been keeping on running since so many years ago / What you can only do is to let tomorrow be still unpredictable