Chinese word dictionary

玄之又玄

xuán zhī yòu xuán · mystery within a mystery; the mysteries of the Dao according to Laozi 老子[Lao3 zi3]

Practice word

Word information

Simplified玄之又玄

Traditional玄之又玄

Pinyinxuán zhī yòu xuán

Part of speechDictionary

HSK 3.0Not listed

HSK 2.0Not listed

Character breakdown

Study each Hanzi separately, then return to the complete word so pronunciation, meaning, and movement stay connected.

玄xuán

deep, profound, abstruse

之zhī

marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; to go to

又yòu

and, also, again, in addition

玄xuán

deep, profound, abstruse

How to learn 玄之又玄

Listen once without reading, repeat the pinyin with its tones, then write every character in sequence. Finally, recall the complete meaning instead of memorizing each character as an isolated translation.

When the word appears in a sentence, check whether its part of speech and meaning match the definition shown here. Chinese words can change nuance with context.

Related vocabulary

Words with the same characters

Compare how a familiar Hanzi changes meaning inside another word.

之zhī

(possessive particle, literary equivalent of 的); him; her; it

又yòu

(once) again; also; both... and...; and yet; (used for emphasis) anyway

之zhī

(possessive particle, literary equivalent of 的[de5]); him; her; it

之后zhīhòu

after; behind; (at the beginning of a sentence) afterwards; since then

之间zhījiān

(after a noun) between; among; amid; (used after certain bisyllabic words to form expressions indicating a short period of time, e.g. 彈指之間|弹指之间[tan2 zhi3 zhi1 jian1])

之前zhīqián

before; prior to; ago; previously; beforehand