朽木不可雕
Chinese
rotten wood; hopeless case; good-for-nothing | cannot; should not; must not | engrave; shrewd | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
trad. (朽木不可雕) | 朽木 | 不可 | 雕 | |
simp. #(朽木不可雕) | 朽木 | 不可 | 雕 | |
Literally: “One cannot make a carving from rotten wood.” |
Etymology
From the Analects of Confucius:
- 朽木不可雕也,糞土之牆不可杇也!于予與何誅? [Classical Chinese, trad.]
- From: The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE, translated based on James Legge's version
- Xiǔmù bùkě diāo yě, fèntǔ zhī qiáng bùkě wū yě! Yú Yǔ yǔ hé zhū? [Pinyin]
- Rotten wood cannot be carved; a wall of dirty earth will not receive the trowel. This Yu! - what is the use of my reproving him?
朽木不可雕也,粪土之墙不可杇也!于予与何诛? [Classical Chinese, simp.]
Pronunciation
- Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)+
- Hanyu Pinyin:
- Zhuyin: ㄒㄧㄡˇ ㄇㄨˋ ㄅㄨˋ ㄎㄜˇ ㄉㄧㄠ
- Tongyong Pinyin: siǒumù bùkě diao
- Wade–Giles: hsiu3-mu4 pu4-kʻo3 tiao1
- Yale: syǒu-mù bù-kě dyāu
- Gwoyeu Romatzyh: sheoumuh bukee diau
- Palladius: сюму букэ дяо (sjumu bukɛ djao)
- Sinological IPA (key): /ɕi̯oʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ mu⁵¹⁻⁵³ pu⁵¹ kʰɤ²¹⁴⁻²¹ ti̯ɑʊ̯⁵⁵/
- (Standard Chinese)+
- Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)+
- Jyutping: nau2 muk6 bat1 ho2 diu1
- Yale: náu muhk bāt hó dīu
- Cantonese Pinyin: nau2 muk9 bat7 ho2 diu1
- Guangdong Romanization: neo2 mug6 bed1 ho2 diu1
- Sinological IPA (key): /nɐu̯³⁵ mʊk̚² pɐt̚⁵ hɔː³⁵ tiːu̯⁵⁵/
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)+
Proverb
Descendants
Vietnamese
chữ Hán Nôm in this term | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
朽 | 木 | 不 | 可 | 雕 |
Idiom
朽木不可雕
- chữ Hán form of hủ mộc bất khả điêu.
Categories:
- Literary Chinese terms with quotations
- Chinese lemmas
- Mandarin lemmas
- Cantonese lemmas
- Chinese proverbs
- Mandarin proverbs
- Cantonese proverbs
- Chinese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Chinese terms spelled with 朽
- Chinese terms spelled with 木
- Chinese terms spelled with 不
- Chinese terms spelled with 可
- Chinese terms spelled with 雕
- Vietnamese lemmas
- Vietnamese idioms
- Vietnamese idioms in Han script
- Vietnamese Chữ Hán