東郭先生

Chinese

		surname	one who was born earlier; mister; sir one who was born earlier; mister; sir; gentleman
trad. (東郭先生)		東郭	先生
simp. (东郭先生)		东郭	先生

Etymology

From Ming Dynasty fairy tale The Wolf of Zhongshan, in which the protagonist, a Mohist scholar Mr. Dongguo saved a wolf from being hunted, yet ultimately had himself requested to be eaten by the wolf.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): dōng guō xiānshēng

  (Zhuyin): ㄉㄨㄥ ㄍㄨㄛ ㄒㄧㄢ ㄕㄥ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): dung¹ gwok³ sin¹ saang¹

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: dōng guō xiānshēng
    • Zhuyin: ㄉㄨㄥ ㄍㄨㄛ ㄒㄧㄢ ㄕㄥ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: dong guo siansheng
    • Wade–Giles: tung¹ kuo¹ hsien¹-shêng¹
    • Yale: dūng gwō syān-shēng
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: dong guo shiansheng
    • Palladius: дун го сяньшэн (dun go sjanʹšɛn)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʊŋ⁵⁵ ku̯ɔ⁵⁵ ɕi̯ɛn⁵⁵ ʂɤŋ⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: dung¹ gwok³ sin¹ saang¹
    • Yale: dūng gwok sīn sāang
    • Cantonese Pinyin: dung¹ gwok⁸ sin¹ saang¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: dung¹ guog³ xin¹ sang¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʊŋ⁵⁵ kʷɔːk̚³ siːn⁵⁵ saːŋ⁵⁵/

Noun

東郭先生

1. a person who help bad people or the enemy without considering their ulterior intention, ultimately leading to backfire