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烏有. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
烏有, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
烏有 in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
烏有 you have here. The definition of the word
烏有 will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
烏有, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
Chinese
|
|
a crow; black; not a crow; black; not; empty; void |
to have; there is; there are to have; there is; there are; to exist; to be |
| trad. (烏有)
|
烏
|
有
|
| simp. (乌有)
|
乌
|
有
|
Etymology
Literally “not-have”; a fictional character in 子虛賦.
Pronunciation
Noun
烏有
- (literary, figurative) nonexistent person or thing; naught; nothing
Derived terms
Japanese
Etymology
Ultimately from Middle Chinese 烏有 (MC 'u hjuwX). May be a learned borrowing from Chinese 烏有 / 乌有 (wūyǒu), considering that this is first cited in Japanese to a text from 1375.[1]
Although this compound may appear to literally parse out to 烏 / 乌 (“crow”) + 有 (“have”), the 烏 / 乌 character was also used phonetically in Chinese with a separate sense of none or not.
Pronunciation
Noun
烏有 • (uyū) ←ういう (uiu)?
- nonexistence, nothing
Synonyms
Idioms
References