支吾

Chinese

		(a measure word); to support; to sustain (a measure word); to support; to sustain; to erect; to raise; branch; division; to draw money	I; my
simp. and trad. (支吾)		支	吾
variant forms		枝梧

Etymology

The semantic development was “to support > to resist; to defy > to cope with; to deal with > to (fail to) resist > to stall off; to boggle > to falter; to equivocate”. All other senses are basically obsolete in the modern language.

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): zhīwú
(Zhuyin): ㄓㄨˊ
Cantonese (Jyutping): zi¹ ng⁴
Min Nan (POJ): chi-ngô͘ / ki-ngô͘

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Pinyin: zhīwú → zhīwu (toneless final syllable variant)
  - Zhuyin: ㄓㄨˊ → ㄓ ˙ㄨ (toneless final syllable variant)
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: jy.wu
  - IPA ^(key): /ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵ u³⁵/ → /ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵ u²/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
  - Jyutping: zi¹ ng⁴
  - Yale: jī ǹgh
  - Cantonese Pinyin: dzi¹ ng⁴
  - Guangdong Romanization: ji¹ ng⁴
  - IPA ^(key): /t͡siː⁵⁵ ŋ̍²¹/
Min Nan
- (Hokkien: Xiamen)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: chi-ngô͘
  - Tâi-lô: tsi-ngôo
  - Phofsit Daibuun: cingoo
  - IPA (Xiamen): /t͡ɕi⁴⁴⁻²² ŋɔ̃²⁴/
- (Hokkien: Xiamen)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: ki-ngô͘
  - Tâi-lô: ki-ngôo
  - Phofsit Daibuun: kingoo
  - IPA (Xiamen): /ki⁴⁴⁻²² ŋɔ̃²⁴/

Middle Chinese: /t͡ɕiᴇ ŋuo/▼

Rime
Character	支	吾
Reading #	1/1	1/2
Initial (聲)	章 (23)	疑 (31)
Final (韻)	支 (11)	模 (23)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	III	I
Fanqie	章移切	五乎切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/t͡ɕiᴇ/	/ŋuo/
Pan Wuyun	/t͡ɕiɛ/	/ŋuo/
Shao Rongfen	/t͡ɕjɛ/	/ŋo/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ciə̆/	/ŋɔ/
Li Rong	/t͡ɕie/	/ŋo/
Wang Li	/t͡ɕǐe/	/ŋu/
Bernard Karlgren	/t͡ɕie̯/	/ŋuo/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	zhī	wú

Verb

支吾

to falter; to prevaricate; to equivocate
(archaic) to deal with a person just for the occasion
(archaic) to prop up; to support
(archaic) to resist; to defy; to oppose
(archaic) to handle
(archaic) to divert oneself from loneliness
(archaic) to hesitate

Derived terms

支吾其詞／支吾其词 (zhīwuqící)

支支吾吾 (zhīzhīwūwū)

Adjective

支吾

(archaic) in a predicament