男默女淚

Chinese

		male	silent; write from memory	female; woman; daughter	tears
trad. (男默女淚)		男	默	女	淚
simp. (男默女泪)		男	默	女	泪
Literally: “(upon hearing this story, etc.,) men will go silent and women will shed tears”.

Etymology

From the following phrase:

男生看了會沉默，女生看了會流淚。 [MSC, trad.]
男生看了会沉默，女生看了会流泪。 [MSC, simp.]

Nánshēng kàn le huì chénmò, nǚshēng kàn le huì liúlèi. [Pinyin]

Boys after reading this will go silent, girls after reading this will shed tears.

Shortened to make it resemble a genuine Chinese chengyu (idiom).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): nánmònǚlèi

  (Zhuyin): ㄋㄢˊ ㄇㄛˋ ㄋㄩˇ ㄌㄟˋ

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: nánmònǚlèi
    • Zhuyin: ㄋㄢˊ ㄇㄛˋ ㄋㄩˇ ㄌㄟˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: nánmònyǔlèi
    • Wade–Giles: nan²-mo⁴-nü³-lei⁴
    • Yale: nán-mwò-nyǔ-lèi
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: nanmohneuley
    • Palladius: наньмонюйлэй (nanʹmonjujlɛj)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /nän³⁵ mu̯ɔ⁵¹ ny²¹⁴⁻²¹ leɪ̯⁵¹/

Phrase

男默女淚

1. (Mainland China, neologism, Internet slang, humorous, of story, article etc.) tearjerking; heartrending; tragic; sad

   甲：「今天服裝店員跟我說：『抱歉，這位顧客，我們店內沒有您可以穿的尺碼。』」
   乙：「男默女淚。」 [MSC, trad.]
   甲：「今天服装店员跟我说：『抱歉，这位顾客，我们店内没有您可以穿的尺码。』」
   乙：「男默女泪。」 [MSC, simp.]

   Jiǎ: “Jīntiān fúzhuāngdiànyuán gēn wǒ shuō: ‘Bàoqiàn, zhè wèi gùkè, wǒmen diàn nèi méiyǒu nín kěyǐ chuān de chǐmǎ.’”
   Yǐ: “Nánmònǚlèi.” [Pinyin]

   A: “Today the shopping assistant in a clothes store said to me: ‘Sorry ma'am, we don't have clothes your size in our store.’”
   B: “My sympathy goes out to you.”