文言

wényán

noun

Meanings

HSK 4

这篇文章是用文言写的。

Zhè piān wénzhāng shì yòng wényán xiě de.

This piece is written in Classical Chinese.

HSK 7-9

五四运动以后，白话逐渐取代了文言。

Wǔsì yùndòng yǐhòu, báihuà zhújiàn qǔdài le wényán.

After the May Fourth Movement, the vernacular gradually took the place of Classical Chinese.

usage

文言 is the language; 文言文 is a text written in it. Its opposite is 白话, writing based on everyday speech.

history

As a title, 文言 names a commentary in the Book of Changes on its first two hexagrams, cited as 《周易·乾卦·文言》 and 《周易·坤卦·文言》.

文 wén

言 yán