Where it came from
What 之 first meant, how it became a function word, and where it stands today.
In the oracle bones 之 is a foot above a line — a foot setting out from a place — and its first meaning was the verb "to go", which the Analects still uses (雖之夷狄, 子之武城). From motion it bleached into a pointing word in the Odes (之子, "that girl"), and from pointing into the pronoun and the possessive linker that fill this page. The vernacular later replaced both: 的 (via earlier 底) took the possessive by the Song dynasty, and 他/它 took the pronoun. 之 lives on in the written register and in fossils everyone still says: 之間, 之後, 百分之九十, 總而言之.
Across the books
Densest in Book 17 (47 occurrences).
- 119
- 220
- 323
- 418
- 540
- 633
- 734
- 820
- 931
- 1013
- 1143
- 1234
- 1335
- 1438
- 1545
- 1637
- 1747
- 1826
- 1944
- 2013
How it works
Every job 之 does, counted over its 613 occurrences in the Analects — commonest first. Tap a passage number to see the whole passage.
- Third-person object pronoun 339× · 55%
- Possessive particle 205× · 33%
- Clause nominalizer 62× · 10%
- The verb "to go" 6× · 1%
1Third-person object pronoun339× · 55%
Stands for "him", "her", "it" or "them" (object pronouns), pointing back at whatever was just mentioned. Two differences from modern 他/她/它: it can never be the subject of a sentence, and in a sentence with 不, 未 or 莫 it jumps in front of the verb (fronting under negation) — 未之有也, "there has never been such a thing".
Gloss him, her, it, them
Look for right after a verb; after 不, 未 or 莫, right before one.
Technical Third-person object pronoun it, him, her, or them, standing in for a person or thing already named
3 examples
子曰：「學而時習之，不亦說乎？有朋自遠方來，不亦樂乎？人不知而不慍，不亦君子乎？」
The Master said: "Is it not pleasant to learn with a constant perseverance and application?
Is it not delightful to have friends coming from distant quarters?
Is he not a man of complete virtue, who feels no discomposure though men may take no note of him?"
Legge 1861
Word by word 學而時習之 — “To learn and regularly practice it”
之 refers back to what was learned. (Lau folds 習 and 之 into "try it out" — the "it" there is the 之.)
子曰：「由！誨女知之乎？知之為知之，不知為不知，是知也。」
The Master said: "You, shall I teach you what knowledge is? When you know a thing, to hold that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it; — this is knowledge."
Legge 1861
Word by word 知之為知之 — “To know it is to know it”
之 stands for the thing known, twice. Legge renders the first as "a thing" and the second as "it".
子曰：「三人行，必有我師焉。擇其善者而從之，其不善者而改之。」
The Master said: "When I walk along with two others, they may serve me as my teachers. I will select their good qualities and follow them, their bad qualities and avoid them."
Legge 1861
Word by word 擇其善者而從之，其不善者而改之 — “Choose what is good in them and follow IT; what is not good in them, and change IT”
之 twice: the first picks up 其善者, the second 其不善者.
2Possessive particle205× · 33%
Works just like modern 的, or the English apostrophe-s (a possessive, or linking, particle): X之N is "X's N" or "the N of X". 父母之年 is "your parents' years" exactly the way 我的書 is "my book".
Gloss ’s; of
Look for stands between two nouns: noun 之 noun.
Technical Possessive or modifying particle linking a noun to what follows, like English 's or of
5 examples
子曰：「父母之年，不可不知也。一則以喜，一則以懼。」
The Master said: "The years of parents may by no means not be kept in the memory, as an occasion at once for joy and for fear."
Legge 1861
Word by word 父母之年 — “One’s parents’ years”
The plainest shape: noun 之 noun.
季康子問政於孔子曰：「如殺無道，以就有道，何如？」孔子對曰：「子為政，焉用殺？子欲善，而民善矣。君子之德風，小人之德草。草上之風，必偃。」
Ji Kang asked Confucius about government, saying: "What do you say to killing the unprincipled for the good of the principled?"
Confucius replied: "Sir, in carrying on your government, why should you use killing at all? Let your evinced desires be for what is good, and the people will be good. The relation between superiors and inferiors is like that between the wind and the grass. The grass must bend, when the wind blows across it."
Legge 1861
Word by word 君子之德風，小人之德草 — “The virtue OF the gentleman is wind; the virtue OF the small man is grass”
Two 之 phrases in parallel — 君子之德 against 小人之德.
有子曰：「禮之用，和為貴。先王之道斯為美，小大由之。有所不行，知和而和，不以禮節之，亦不可行也。」
The philosopher You said: "In practicing the rules of propriety, a natural ease is to be prized. In the ways prescribed by the ancient kings, this is the excellent quality, and in things small and great we follow them.
Yet it is not to be observed in all cases. If one, knowing how such ease should be prized, manifests it, without regulating it by the rules of propriety, this likewise is not to be done."
Legge 1861
Word by word 先王之道斯為美 — “In the Way of the former kings, this [harmony] was the admirable thing”
先王之道 = the Way OF the former kings. (斯 points back at 和, harmony, in the clause before.)
有子曰：「其為人也孝弟，而好犯上者，鮮矣；不好犯上，而好作亂者，未之有也。君子務本，本立而道生。孝弟也者，其為仁之本與！」
The philosopher You said: "They are few who, being filial and fraternal, are fond of offending against their superiors. There have been none, who, not liking to offend against their superiors, have been fond of stirring up confusion.
The superior man bends his attention to what is radical. That being established, all practical courses naturally grow up. Filial piety and fraternal submission! — are they not the root of all benevolent actions?"
Legge 1861
Word by word 其為仁之本與 — “Are they not the root of benevolence?”
仁之本 = the root OF benevolence
子貢曰：「夫子之文章，可得而聞也；夫子之言性與天道，不可得而聞也。」
Zigong said: "The Master's personal displays of his principles and ordinary descriptions of them may be heard. His discourses about man's nature, and the way of Heaven, cannot be heard."
Legge 1861
Word by word 夫子之文章，可得而聞也；夫子之言性與天道，不可得而聞也 — “The Master’S writings can be heard; the Master’S words on nature and the Way of Heaven cannot”
In a word none of the eight translators gives this 之 an English word — its work is done by tone and structure.
文章 belongs to 夫子; 之 links owner to thing owned, twice in parallel.
3Clause nominalizer62× · 10%
鳥將死 is a complete sentence: "the bird is about to die." Slip 之 between the subject and the verb — 鳥之將死 — and it stops being a statement and becomes a thing you can talk about (a nominalized clause): "the bird's being about to die", like English "the bird's dying". Chinese grammarians call this 取消句子獨立性, cancelling the sentence's independence. English usually renders it with 's, which is why it is easy to mistake for the possessive 之 of 仁之本.
Gloss ’s ⋯-ing (the bird's dying); often no English word at all
Look for between a subject and its verb, often with 也 closing the phrase.
Technical Subordinating particle that nominalizes a subject-predicate clause, marking it as a topic, subject, or embedded clause
3 examples
子曰：「不患人之不己知，患不知人也。」
The Master said: "I will not be afflicted at men's not knowing me; I will be afflicted that I do not know men."
Legge 1861
Word by word 不患人之不己知 — “he is not troubled that others do not know him”
Here the subordinated clause is the object of 患. 不己知 is a negated predicate with a fronted pronoun object.
儀封人請見。曰：「君子之至於斯也，吾未嘗不得見也。」從者見之。出曰：「二三子，何患於喪乎？天下之無道也久矣，天將以夫子為木鐸。」
The border warden at Yi requested to be introduced to the Master, saying: "When men of superior virtue have come to this, I have never been denied the privilege of seeing them."
The followers of the sage introduced him, and when he came out from the interview, he said: "My friends, why are you distressed by your master's loss of office? The kingdom has long been without the principles of truth and right; Heaven is going to use your master as a bell with its wooden tongue."
Legge 1861
Word by word 天下之無道也 — “the world’s being without the Way”
In a word none of the eight translators gives this 之 an English word — its work is done by tone and structure.
無道 is "lacks the Way", a predicate; 之 makes the whole chunk the subject of 久矣. No translator renders that move — "has long been" is as close as English gets, and it recasts the phrase as a plain subject, losing that the comment is on the world's BEING without the Way having gone on so long. Legge's 1.16 "men's not knowing me" keeps the same 之 visible.
曾子有疾，孟敬子問之。曾子言曰：「鳥之將死，其鳴也哀；人之將死，其言也善。君子所貴乎道者三：動容貌，斯遠暴慢矣；正顏色，斯近信矣；出辭氣，斯遠鄙倍矣。籩豆之事，則有司存。」
The philosopher Zeng being ill, Meng Jing went to ask how he was.
Zeng said to him: "When a bird is about to die, its notes are mournful; when a man is about to die, his words are good.
There are three principles of conduct which the man of high rank should consider specially important: — that in his deportment and manner he keep from violence and heedlessness; that in regulating his countenance he keep near to sincerity; and that in his words and tones he keep far from lowness and impropriety. As to such matters as attending to the sacrificial vessels, there are the proper officers for them."
Legge 1861
Word by word 鳥之將死，其鳴也哀；人之將死，其言也善 — “When a bird is about to die, its cry is mournful; when a man is about to die, his words are good”
將死 is a predicate, not a noun — so this 之 cannot be "of". Without it each half would simply assert that the bird, or the man, is dying. Legge's "When" IS the 之 surfacing: the subordinated clause becomes a when-clause.
Also counted in the book — rarer, and not always a function word:
4The verb "to go"6× · 1%
Look for 之 + place name, as main verb
Technical Verb meaning to go to or proceed to a place
3 examples
樊遲問仁。子曰：「居處恭，執事敬，與人忠。雖之夷狄，不可棄也。」
Fan Chi asked about perfect virtue. The Master said: "It is, in retirement, to be sedately grave; in the management of business, to be reverently attentive; in intercourse with others, to be strictly sincere. Though a man go among rude, uncultivated tribes, these qualities may not be neglected."
Legge 1861
to go to
子之武城，聞弦歌之聲。夫子莞爾而笑，曰：「割雞焉用牛刀？」子游對曰：「昔者偃也聞諸夫子曰：『君子學道則愛人，小人學道則易使也。』」子曰：「二三子！偃之言是也。前言戲之耳。」
The Master, having come to Wucheng, heard there the sound of stringed instruments and singing.
Well pleased and smiling, he said: "Why use an ox knife to kill a fowl?"
Ziyou replied: "Formerly, Master, I heard you say, 'When the man of high station is well instructed, he loves men; when the man of low station is well instructed, he is easily ruled.'"
The Master said: "My disciples, Yan's words are right. What I said was only in sport."
Legge 1861
to go to, to arrive at (functioning here as a full verb)
陳成子弒簡公。孔子沐浴而朝，告於哀公曰：「陳恆弒其君，請討之。」公曰：「告夫三子！」孔子曰：「以吾從大夫之後，不敢不告也。君曰『告夫三子』者。」之三子告，不可。孔子曰：「以吾從大夫之後，不敢不告也。」
Chen Cheng murdered the Duke Jian of Qi.
Confucius bathed, went to court, and informed the Duke Ai, saying, "Chen Heng has slain his sovereign. I beg that you will undertake to punish him."
The duke said: "Inform the chiefs of the three families of it."
Confucius retired, and said: "Following in the rear of the great officers, I did not dare not to represent such a matter, and my prince says, 'Inform the chiefs of the three families of it.'"
He went to the chiefs, and informed them, but they would not act. Confucius then said: "Following in the rear of the great officers, I did not dare not to represent such a matter."
Legge 1861
to go to