十室九空

Chinese

		ten	room	nine	emptied; leisure; air emptied; leisure; air; sky; empty; in vain
trad. (十室九空)		十	室	九	空
simp. #(十室九空)		十	室	九	空
Literally: “nine out of ten houses are empty”.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): shíshìjiǔkōng, shíshǐjiǔkōng

  (Zhuyin): ㄕˊ ㄕˋ ㄐㄧㄡˇ ㄎㄨㄥ, ㄕˊ ㄕˇ ㄐㄧㄡˇ ㄎㄨㄥ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): sap⁶ sat¹ gau² hung¹

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, standard in Mainland and Taiwan)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: shíshìjiǔkōng
    • Zhuyin: ㄕˊ ㄕˋ ㄐㄧㄡˇ ㄎㄨㄥ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: shíhshìhjiǒukong
    • Wade–Giles: shih²-shih⁴-chiu³-kʻung¹
    • Yale: shŕ-shr̀-jyǒu-kūng
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shyrshyhjeoukong
    • Palladius: шишицзюкун (šišiczjukun)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʂʐ̩³⁵ ʂʐ̩⁵¹ t͡ɕi̯oʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ kʰʊŋ⁵⁵/
      
  • (Standard Chinese, variant in Mainland)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: shíshǐjiǔkōng [Phonetic: shíshíjiǔkōng]
    • Zhuyin: ㄕˊ ㄕˇ ㄐㄧㄡˇ ㄎㄨㄥ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: shíhshǐhjiǒukong
    • Wade–Giles: shih²-shih³-chiu³-kʻung¹
    • Yale: shŕ-shř-jyǒu-kūng
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shyrshyyjeoukong
    • Palladius: шишицзюкун (šišiczjukun)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʂʐ̩³⁵ ʂʐ̩²¹⁴⁻³⁵ t͡ɕi̯oʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ kʰʊŋ⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: sap⁶ sat¹ gau² hung¹
    • Yale: sahp sāt gáu hūng
    • Cantonese Pinyin: sap⁹ sat⁷ gau² hung¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: seb⁶ sed¹ geo² hung¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sɐp̚² sɐt̚⁵ kɐu̯³⁵ hʊŋ⁵⁵/

Idiom

十室九空

1. (of a space) desolate after a war or disaster; deserted as people have died or fled