愁眉鎖眼

Chinese

		knitted brows	to lock up; to lock	eye
trad. (愁眉鎖眼)		愁眉	鎖	眼
simp. (愁眉锁眼)		愁眉	锁	眼

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): chóuméisuǒyǎn

  (Zhuyin): ㄔㄡˊ ㄇㄟˊ ㄙㄨㄛˇ ㄧㄢˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): sau⁴ mei⁴ so² ngaan⁵

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: chóuméisuǒyǎn [Phonetic: chóuméisuóyǎn]
    • Zhuyin: ㄔㄡˊ ㄇㄟˊ ㄙㄨㄛˇ ㄧㄢˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: chóuméisuǒyǎn
    • Wade–Giles: chʻou²-mei²-so³-yen³
    • Yale: chóu-méi-swǒ-yǎn
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: chourmeisuooyean
    • Palladius: чоумэйсоянь (čoumɛjsojanʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʈ͡ʂʰoʊ̯³⁵ meɪ̯³⁵ su̯ɔ²¹⁴⁻³⁵ jɛn²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: sau⁴ mei⁴ so² ngaan⁵
    • Yale: sàuh mèih só ngáahn
    • Cantonese Pinyin: sau⁴ mei⁴ so² ngaan⁵
    • Guangdong Romanization: seo⁴ méi⁴ so² ngan⁵
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sɐu̯²¹ mei̯²¹ sɔː³⁵ ŋaːn¹³/

Idiom

愁眉鎖眼

1. to knit one's brows in despair; to look worried

   • 大家以為有了出路，愁眉鎖眼的姿態為之一掃。 [MSC, trad.]
     大家以为有了出路，愁眉锁眼的姿态为之一扫。 [MSC, simp.]

     From: 1940, 毛澤東 (Mao Zedong), 《新民主主義論》 (On New Democracy), 《毛澤東選集》. English translation based on the Foreign Languages Press edition

     Dàjiā yǐwéi yǒu le chūlù, chóuméisuǒyǎn de zītài wéi zhī yī sǎo. [Pinyin]

     There is a general feeling that a way out of the impasse has been found, and people no longer knit their brows in despair.