不知所云

Chinese

		to not know; to have no idea of; to be ignorant of to not know; to have no idea of; to be ignorant of; to wonder if	actually; place; (nominalization prefix)	(classical) to say
simp. and trad. (不知所云)		不知	所	云
Literally: “to not know what to say”.

Etymology

Originally meant not knowing what to say. First attested in 227

今當遠離，臨表涕零，不知所云。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

今当远离，临表涕零，不知所云。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: 227 CE, Zhuge Liang, Chu Shi Biao

Jīn dāng yuǎnlí, lín biǎo tìlíng, bùzhīsuǒyún. [Pinyin]

I am going to leave Your Majesty soon. Now, as I read this memorial aloud, I am unable to hold back my tears and I do not know what to say anymore.

The meaning has differed from the original. It is now employed to criticise the speech being incoherent or incomprehensible.

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): bùzhīsuǒyún

(Zhuyin): ㄅㄨˋ ㄓㄙㄨㄛˇ ㄩㄣˊ
Cantonese (Jyutping): bat¹ zi¹ so² wan⁴

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: bùzhīsuǒyún
  - Zhuyin: ㄅㄨˋ ㄓㄙㄨㄛˇ ㄩㄣˊ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: bùjhihsuǒyún
  - Wade–Giles: pu⁴-chih¹-so³-yün²
  - Yale: bù-jr̄-swǒ-yún
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: bujysuooyun
  - Palladius: бучжисоюнь (bučžisojunʹ)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /pu⁵¹ ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵ su̯ɔ²¹⁴⁻²¹ yn³⁵/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: bat¹ zi¹ so² wan⁴
  - Yale: bāt jī só wàhn
  - Cantonese Pinyin: bat⁷ dzi¹ so² wan⁴
  - Guangdong Romanization: bed¹ ji¹ so² wen⁴
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /pɐt̚⁵ t͡siː⁵⁵ sɔː³⁵ wɐn²¹/

Middle Chinese: pjut trje srjoX hjun

Rime
Character	不	知	所	云
Reading #	3/3	1/1	1/1	1/1
Initial (聲)	幫 (1)	知 (9)	生 (21)	云 (35)
Final (韻)	物 (60)	支 (11)	魚 (22)	文 (59)
Tone (調)	Checked (Ø)	Level (Ø)	Rising (X)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Closed	Open	Open	Closed
Division (等)	III	III	III	III
Fanqie	分勿切	陟移切	踈舉切	王分切
Baxter	pjut	trje	srjoX	hjun
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/pɨut̚/	/ʈiᴇ/	/ʃɨʌ^X/	/ɦɨun/
Pan Wuyun	/piut̚/	/ʈiɛ/	/ʃiɔ^X/	/ɦiun/
Shao Rongfen	/piuət̚/	/ȶjɛ/	/ʃiɔ^X/	/ɣiuən/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/put̚/	/ʈiə̆/	/ʂɨə̆^X/	/ɦun/
Li Rong	/piuət̚/	/ȶie/	/ʃiɔ^X/	/ɣiuən/
Wang Li	/pĭuət̚/	/ȶǐe/	/ʃĭo^X/	/ɣĭuən/
Bernhard Karlgren	/pi̯uət̚/	/ȶie̯/	/ʂi̯wo^X/	/i̯uən/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	fu	zhī	shǔ	yún
Expected Cantonese Reflex	fat¹	zi¹	so²	wan⁴

Old Chinese
(Baxter–Sagart): /*pə tre s-qʰ<r>aʔ [ɢ]ʷə[r]/

(Zhengzhang): /*pɯ' ʔl'e sqʰraʔ ɢun/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	不	知	所	云
Reading #	1/2	1/1	1/2	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	bù	zhī	suǒ	yún
Middle Chinese	‹ pjuw ›	‹ trje ›	‹ srjo^X ›	‹ hjun ›
Old Chinese	/*pə/	/*tre/	/*s-qʰ<r>aʔ/	/*[ɢ]ʷə[r]/
English	not	know	place (n.); that which	say
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	不	知	所	云
Reading #	3/3	1/1	1/1	1/1
No.	1048	11495	5306	16363
Phonetic component	不	矢	戸	云
Rime group	物	支	魚	文
Rime subdivision	1	0	0	2
Corresponding MC rime	弗		所	雲
Old Chinese	/*pɯ'/	/*ʔl'e/	/*sqʰraʔ/	/*ɢun/
Notes	中古才促化	沈兼士依韻會所引說文從口矢聲

Idiom

不知所云

to not know what someone is driving at; to be unintelligible

Synonyms

(Hokkien) 鴨仔聽雷／鸭仔听雷