之乎者也

1. • 之 zhī, 乎 hū, 者 zhě and 也 yě (four grammatical particles of Classical Chinese) (idiom)

     lit.

2. • archaic expressions

     fig.

Character by character

• 之(zhī)(possessive particle, literary equivalent of 的 de)
• 乎(hū)(classical particle similar to 于 yú) in
• 者(zhě)(after a verb or adjective) one who (is) ...
• 也(yě)also