朝三暮四

Chinese

		morning; to face; towards morning; to face; towards; facing; direct; a dynasty; the imperial court; Korea, esp. N. Korea (abbrev.)	three	evening; dusk; sunset evening; dusk; sunset; (of time) late; closing	four
trad. (朝三暮四)		朝	三	暮	四
simp. #(朝三暮四)		朝	三	暮	四
anagrams		朝四暮三 暮四朝三
Literally: “three in the morning, and four in the evening”.

Etymology

From a parable seen both in Zhuangzi and Liezi.

There was a man keeping monkeys as pets. He once decided to feed them less. He told the monkeys, "I will feed you three acorns in the morning, and four in the evening." The monkeys all went angry. But he later said, "How about four in the morning, and three in the evening?" The monkeys all became happy.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): zhāosānmùsì

  (Zhuyin): ㄓㄠ ㄙㄢ ㄇㄨˋ ㄙˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): ziu¹ saam¹ mou⁶ sei³

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: zhāosānmùsì
    • Zhuyin: ㄓㄠ ㄙㄢ ㄇㄨˋ ㄙˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: jhaosanmùsìh
    • Wade–Giles: chao¹-san¹-mu⁴-ssŭ⁴
    • Yale: jāu-sān-mù-sz̀
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: jausanmuhsyh
    • Palladius: чжаосаньмусы (čžaosanʹmusy)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʈ͡ʂɑʊ̯⁵⁵ sän⁵⁵ mu⁵¹⁻⁵³ sz̩⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: ziu¹ saam¹ mou⁶ sei³
    • Yale: jīu sāam mouh sei
    • Cantonese Pinyin: dziu¹ saam¹ mou⁶ sei³
    • Guangdong Romanization: jiu¹ sam¹ mou⁶ séi³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡siːu̯⁵⁵ saːm⁵⁵ mou̯²² sei̯³³/

Idiom

(deprecated template usage) 朝三暮四

1. to change something that is already settled upon; to blow hot and cold

References

(deprecated template usage)

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Japanese

Etymology

Kanji in this term
朝	三	暮	四
ちょう Grade: 2	さん Grade: 1	ぼ Grade: 6	し Grade: 1
on’yomi

Derived from, and now a false friend of Chinese 朝三暮四 (zhāosānmùsì).

Noun

朝(ちょう)三(さん)暮(ぼ)四(し) • (chōsanboshi) 

1. a focus on cosmetic differences between two objects without realizing that they are substantively identical
2. deceiving a person