道聽塗說

Chinese

		direction; way; method direction; way; method; road; path; principle; truth; reason; skill; Tao (of Taoism); a measure word; to say; to speak; to talk	let; allow; listen let; allow; listen; hear; obey	Alternative form of 途 (tú)	to speak; to say; persuade (politically)
trad. (道聽塗說)		道	聽	塗	說
simp. (道听涂说)		道	听	涂	说
alternative forms		道聽涂說／道听涂说 道聽途說／道听途说 道聽途説／道听途说 PRC standard
Literally: “to tell, as one go along, what they have heard on the way”.

Etymology

From the Analects, Book 17 (《論語·陽貨》):

子曰：「道聽而塗說，德之棄也。」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

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子曰：「道听而涂说，德之弃也。」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

Zǐyuē: “Dào tīng ér tú shuō, dé zhī qì yě.” [Pinyin]

The Master said, "To tell, as we go along, what we have heard on the way, is to cast away our virtue."

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): dàotīngtúshuō

  (Zhuyin): ㄉㄠˋ ㄊㄧㄥ ㄊㄨˊ ㄕㄨㄛ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): dou⁶ ting³ tou⁴ syut³ / dou⁶ ting¹ tou⁴ syut³

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: dàotīngtúshuō
    • Zhuyin: ㄉㄠˋ ㄊㄧㄥ ㄊㄨˊ ㄕㄨㄛ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: dàotingtúshuo
    • Wade–Giles: tao⁴-tʻing¹-tʻu²-shuo¹
    • Yale: dàu-tīng-tú-shwō
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: dawtingtwushuo
    • Palladius: даотинтушо (daotintušo)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tɑʊ̯⁵¹ tʰiŋ⁵⁵ tʰu³⁵ ʂu̯ɔ⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: dou⁶ ting³ tou⁴ syut³ / dou⁶ ting¹ tou⁴ syut³
    • Yale: douh ting tòuh syut / douh tīng tòuh syut
    • Cantonese Pinyin: dou⁶ ting³ tou⁴ syt⁸ / dou⁶ ting¹ tou⁴ syt⁸
    • Guangdong Romanization: dou⁶ ting³ tou⁴ xud³ / dou⁶ ting¹ tou⁴ xud³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tou̯²² tʰɪŋ³³ tʰou̯²¹ syːt̚³/, /tou̯²² tʰɪŋ⁵⁵ tʰou̯²¹ syːt̚³/

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• Middle Chinese: dawX theng du sywet

Rime
Character	道	聽	塗	說
Reading #	1/1	1/2	1/2	3/3
Initial (聲)	定 (7)	透 (6)	定 (7)	書 (26)
Final (韻)	豪 (89)	青 (125)	模 (23)	薛 (82)
Tone (調)	Rising (X)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)	Checked (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open	Open	Closed
Division (等)	I	IV	I	III
Fanqie	徒晧切	他丁切	同都切	失爇切
Baxter	dawX	theng	du	sywet
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/dɑuX/	/tʰeŋ/	/duo/	/ɕiuᴇt̚/
Pan Wuyun	/dɑuX/	/tʰeŋ/	/duo/	/ɕʷiɛt̚/
Shao Rongfen	/dɑuX/	/tʰɛŋ/	/do/	/ɕjuæt̚/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/dawX/	/tʰɛjŋ/	/dɔ/	/ɕwiat̚/
Li Rong	/dɑuX/	/tʰeŋ/	/do/	/ɕiuɛt̚/
Wang Li	/dɑuX/	/tʰieŋ/	/du/	/ɕĭuɛt̚/
Bernard Karlgren	/dʱɑuX/	/tʰieŋ/	/dʱuo/	/ɕi̯wɛt̚/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	dào	tīng	tú	shuo
Expected Cantonese Reflex	dou6	ting1	tou4	syut3

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*[kə.l]ˤuʔ  l̥ˤeŋ  lˤa  l̥ot/

  (Zhengzhang): /*l'uːʔ  l̥ʰeːŋ  l'aː  hljod/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	道	聽	塗	說
Reading #	2/2	1/2	2/2	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	dào	tīng	tú	shuō
Middle Chinese	‹ dawX ›	‹ theng ›	‹ du ›	‹ sywet ›
Old Chinese	/*[kə.l]ˁuʔ/	/*l̥ˁeŋ/	/*lˁa/	/*l̥ot/
English	way	listen	road	speak, explain
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	道	聽	塗	說
Reading #	1/1	1/2	2/2	2/3
No.	11669	11392	15774	2571
Phonetic component	首	聖	余	兑
Rime group	幽	耕	魚	月
Rime subdivision	1	0	0	3
Corresponding MC rime	道	汀	徒	說
Old Chinese	/*l'uːʔ/	/*l̥ʰeːŋ/	/*l'aː/	/*hljod/
Notes		甲金文象耳對口， 後繁化加心壬聲， 右上即卜口繁化

Idiom

道聽塗說

1. rumor; hearsay

   • 世上最可笑的是那些「知識裡手」，有了道聽塗說的一知半解，便自封為「天下第一」，適足見其不自量而已。 [MSC, trad.]
     世上最可笑的是那些「知识里手」，有了道听涂说的一知半解，便自封为「天下第一」，适足见其不自量而已。 [MSC, simp.]

     From: 1937, 毛澤東 (Mao Zedong), 《實踐論》 (On Practice), 《毛澤東選集》. English translation based on the Foreign Languages Press edition

     Shìshàng zuì kěxiào de shì nàxiē “zhīshi lǐshǒu”, yǒu le dàotīngtúshuō de yīzhībànjiě, biàn zìfēng wéi “tiānxiàdìyī”, shì zújiàn qí bùzìliàng éryǐ. [Pinyin]

     The most ridiculous person in the world is the “know all” who picks up a smattering of hearsay knowledge and proclaims themselves “the world's Number One authority”; this merely shows that they have not taken a proper measure of themselves.

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (道聽塗說):

• → Japanese: 道(どう)聴(ちょう)塗(と)説(せつ) (dōchōtosetsu)
• → Korean: 도청도설(道聽塗說) (docheongdoseol)