Definition
乎 is a modal particle (m.p.) from Classical Chinese, used at the end of a sentence to mark a question, exclamation, or rhetorical flourish — roughly equivalent to modern 吗 or 啊 in literary contexts. It is rarely used alone in everyday speech but appears in fixed idioms (不亦乐乎, 岂不悲乎) and in written or formal registers. The dictionary gloss 'to; at; with; than' actually reflects the Classical Chinese preposition 乎 (homograph of 于), which is a different sense. This row covers only the modal particle usage.
m.p.
(modal particle, Classical) marks an exclamation or rhetorical questionoften in literary or formal contexts
Examples
- !Bú yì lè hū!Isn't it joyful! (from Confucius, often used to express delight)
- 乎?Qǐ bù bēi hū?How could it not be sad? (rhetorical question in literary style)
- 乎,。Shàn hū, wú zhī suǒ dé.How excellent — that which I have attained. (archaic exclamation)
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