睇餸食飯

Chinese

		look down upon; (Cantonese) to look; to see look down upon; (Cantonese) to look; to see; to look after; to think		to eat; to eat cooked rice without rice water
trad. (睇餸食飯)		睇	餸	食飯
simp. (睇𩠌食饭)		睇	𩠌	食饭
Literally: “eat while observing (how much) food (is left)”.

Pronunciation

• Cantonese (Jyutping): tai² sung³ sik⁶ faan⁶

---

• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: tai² sung³ sik⁶ faan⁶
    • Yale: tái sung sihk faahn
    • Cantonese Pinyin: tai² sung³ sik⁹ faan⁶
    • Guangdong Romanization: tei² sung³ xig⁶ fan⁶
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰɐi̯³⁵ sʊŋ³³ sɪk̚² faːn²²/

Idiom

睇餸食飯

1. (Cantonese) to work with what one has; to act with the available resources in mind
2. (Cantonese) to act flexibly; to play by ear

Synonyms

• (to work with what one has): 量入為出／量入为出 (liàngrùwéichū)
• (to act flexibly): 隨機應變／随机应变 (suíjīyìngbiàn)