文言文 (man4 jin4 man4) — Classical Chinese; Literary Chinese -- written Chinese based on the grammar of Old Chinese (上古漢語). It was eventually replaced in the early 20th century by 白話文, Vernacular Chinese, which is written Chinese based on the Mandarin dialect. in Cantonese
manˎ₄文jinˎ₄言manˎ₄文Mandarin Pinyin: wen2 yan2 wen2
Meaning of 文言文
nounClassical Chinese; Literary Chinese -- written Chinese based on the grammar of Old Chinese (上古漢語). It was eventually replaced in the early 20th century by 白話文, Vernacular Chinese, which is written Chinese based on the Mandarin dialect.