刀子嘴豆腐心

Chinese

		small knife; pocketknife; knife	mouth	tofu; bean curd; any food with tofu-like physical quality	heart; mind
trad. (刀子嘴豆腐心)		刀子	嘴	豆腐	心
simp. #(刀子嘴豆腐心)		刀子	嘴	豆腐	心
Literally: “a mouth as sharp as a knife and heart as soft as tofu”.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): dāozi zuǐ dòufu xīn

  (Zhuyin): ㄉㄠ ˙ㄗ ㄗㄨㄟˇ ㄉㄡˋ ˙ㄈㄨ ㄒㄧㄣ

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: dāozi zuǐ dòufu xīn
    • Zhuyin: ㄉㄠ ˙ㄗ ㄗㄨㄟˇ ㄉㄡˋ ˙ㄈㄨ ㄒㄧㄣ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: daozi̊h zuěi dòufů sin
    • Wade–Giles: tao¹-tzŭ⁵ tsui³ tou⁴-fu⁵ hsin¹
    • Yale: dāu-dz dzwěi dòu-fu syīn
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: dau.tzy tzoei dow.fu shin
    • Palladius: даоцзы цзуй доуфу синь (daoczy czuj doufu sinʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tɑʊ̯⁵⁵ d͡z̥z̩² t͡su̯eɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ toʊ̯⁵¹ fu¹ ɕin⁵⁵/

Idiom

(deprecated template usage) 刀子嘴豆腐心

1. someone who has a sharp tongue but a soft heart; someone with more bark than bite

   我們都知道你是個刀子嘴豆腐心。 [MSC, trad.]
   我们都知道你是个刀子嘴豆腐心。 [MSC, simp.]

   Wǒmen dōu zhīdào nǐ shì ge dāozi zuǐ dòufu xīn. [Pinyin]

   We all know that even though you talk tough, you're a softy underneath it all.