股掌之上

Chinese

		thigh and palm	's; him/her/it; this	up; on; on top up; on; on top; upon; first; previous or last; upper; higher; above; previous; to climb; to go into; to go up
trad. (股掌之上)		股掌	之	上
simp. ^#(股掌之上)		股掌	之	上

Etymology

First attested in Guoyu:

夫越非實忠心好吳也，又非懾畏吾兵甲之彊也。大夫種勇而善謀，將還玩吳國於股掌之上，以得其志。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

夫越非实忠心好吴也，又非慑畏吾兵甲之强也。大夫种勇而善谋，将还玩吴国于股掌之上，以得其志。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: Guoyu, circa 4^th century BCE

Fú Yuè fēi shí zhōngxīn hǎo Wú yě, yòu fēi shèwèi wú bīngjiǎ zhī qiáng yě. Dàfū Zhòng yǒng ér shàn móu, jiāng xuánwán Wúguó yú gǔzhǎng zhī shàng, yǐ dé qí zhì. [Pinyin]

The State of Yue does not truly want to be friendly with us, nor does it fear the might of our army. Wen Zhong, minister of Yue, is courageous and resourceful. He plays tricks with us in order to realize his ambition [of conquering our state].

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): gǔzhǎngzhīshàng

(Zhuyin): ㄍㄨˇ ㄓㄤˇ ㄓㄕㄤˋ

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: gǔzhǎngzhīshàng [Phonetic: gúzhǎngzhīshàng]
  - Zhuyin: ㄍㄨˇ ㄓㄤˇ ㄓㄕㄤˋ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: gǔjhǎngjhihshàng
  - Wade–Giles: ku³-chang³-chih¹-shang⁴
  - Yale: gǔ-jǎng-jr̄-shàng
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: guujaangjyshanq
  - Palladius: гучжанчжишан (gučžančžišan)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ku²¹⁴⁻³⁵ ʈ͡ʂɑŋ²¹⁴⁻²¹ ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵ ʂɑŋ⁵¹/

Middle Chinese: kuX tsyangX tsyi dzyangH

Rime
Character	股	掌	之	上
Reading #	1/1	1/1	1/1	2/2
Initial (聲)	見 (28)	章 (23)	章 (23)	常 (25)
Final (韻)	模 (23)	陽 (105)	之 (19)	陽 (105)
Tone (調)	Rising (X)	Rising (X)	Level (Ø)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open	Open	Open
Division (等)	I	III	III	III
Fanqie	公戸切	諸兩切	止而切	時亮切
Baxter	kuX	tsyangX	tsyi	dzyangH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/kuo^X/	/t͡ɕɨɐŋ^X/	/t͡ɕɨ/	/d͡ʑɨɐŋ^H/
Pan Wuyun	/kuo^X/	/t͡ɕiɐŋ^X/	/t͡ɕɨ/	/d͡ʑiɐŋ^H/
Shao Rongfen	/ko^X/	/t͡ɕiɑŋ^X/	/t͡ɕie/	/d͡ʑiɑŋ^H/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/kɔ^X/	/cɨaŋ^X/	/cɨ/	/d͡ʑɨaŋ^H/
Li Rong	/ko^X/	/t͡ɕiaŋ^X/	/t͡ɕiə/	/ʑiaŋ^H/
Wang Li	/ku^X/	/t͡ɕĭaŋ^X/	/t͡ɕĭə/	/ʑĭaŋ^H/
Bernhard Karlgren	/kuo^X/	/t͡ɕi̯aŋ^X/	/t͡ɕi/	/ʑi̯aŋ^H/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	gǔ	zhǎng	zhī	shàng
Expected Cantonese Reflex	gu²	zoeng²	zi¹	soeng⁶

Old Chinese
(Baxter–Sagart): /*kʷˤaʔ [k.t]aŋʔ tə daŋʔ-s/

(Zhengzhang): /*klaːʔ tjaŋʔ tjɯ djaŋs/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	股	掌	之	上
Reading #	1/1	1/1	2/2	3/3
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	gǔ	zhǎng	zhī	shàng
Middle Chinese	‹ ku^X ›	‹ tsyang^X ›	‹ tsyi ›	‹ dzyang^H ›
Old Chinese	/*kʷˁaʔ/	/*[k.t]aŋʔ/	/*tə/	/*daŋʔ-s/
English	thigh	palm of the hand	(3p object pronoun; attributive particle)	top, above (n.)
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. [t] as coda may in fact be -t or -p; Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	股	掌	之	上
Reading #	1/1	1/1	1/1	2/2
No.	4311	11146	17188	11103
Phonetic component	股	尚	之	上
Rime group	魚	陽	之	陽
Rime subdivision	0	0	0	0
Corresponding MC rime	古	掌	之	尚
Old Chinese	/*klaːʔ/	/*tjaŋʔ/	/*tjɯ/	/*djaŋs/

Idiom

股掌之上

(figurative) in the palm of one's hand; under one's complete control