窮鼠齧狸
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Chinese
[edit]exhausted; poor | rat; mouse | surname; gnaw | raccoon dog; leopard cat | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
trad. (窮鼠齧狸/窮鼠嚙狸/窮鼠齧貍/窮鼠嚙貍) | 窮 | 鼠 | 齧/嚙 | 狸/貍 | |
simp. (穷鼠啮狸) | 穷 | 鼠 | 啮 | 狸 |
Etymology
[edit]From the Discourses on Salt and Iron (鹽鐵論·詔聖/盐铁论·诏圣):
- 死不再生,窮鼠嚙狸,匹夫奔萬乘,舍人折弓,陳勝、吳廣是也。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
- From: Huan Kuan, Discourses on Salt and Iron, c. 1st century BCE
- Sǐ bù zàishēng, qióng shǔ niè lí, pǐfū bēn wànchéng, shèrén zhé gōng, Chén Shèng, Wú Guǎng shì yě. [Pinyin]
- People cannot revive if they die, so a cornered rat will bite a cat; An ordinary man would go to assault the Emperor; A servant of a noble would destroy his bow. This is precisely the case of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang.
死不再生,穷鼠啮狸,匹夫奔万乘,舍人折弓,陈胜、吴广是也。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
Pronunciation
[edit]- Mandarin
- Cantonese (Jyutping): kung4 syu2 jit6 lei4 / kung4 syu2 ngit6 lei4 / kung4 syu2 ngaat6 lei4
- Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)+
- Hanyu Pinyin:
- Zhuyin: ㄑㄩㄥˊ ㄕㄨˇ ㄋㄧㄝˋ ㄌㄧˊ
- Tongyong Pinyin: cyóngshǔ nièlí
- Wade–Giles: chʻiung2-shu3 nieh4-li2
- Yale: chyúng-shǔ nyè-lí
- Gwoyeu Romatzyh: chyongshuu niehli
- Palladius: цюншу нели (cjunšu neli)
- Sinological IPA (key): /t͡ɕʰi̯ʊŋ³⁵ ʂu²¹⁴⁻²¹ ni̯ɛ⁵¹ li³⁵/
- (Standard Chinese)+
- Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)+
- Jyutping: kung4 syu2 jit6 lei4 / kung4 syu2 ngit6 lei4 / kung4 syu2 ngaat6 lei4
- Yale: kùhng syú yiht lèih / kùhng syú ngiht lèih / kùhng syú ngaaht lèih
- Cantonese Pinyin: kung4 sy2 jit9 lei4 / kung4 sy2 ngit9 lei4 / kung4 sy2 ngaat9 lei4
- Guangdong Romanization: kung4 xu2 yid6 léi4 / kung4 xu2 ngid6 léi4 / kung4 xu2 ngad6 léi4
- Sinological IPA (key): /kʰʊŋ²¹ syː³⁵ jiːt̚² lei̯²¹/, /kʰʊŋ²¹ syː³⁵ ŋiːt̚² lei̯²¹/, /kʰʊŋ²¹ syː³⁵ ŋaːt̚² lei̯²¹/
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)+
Idiom
[edit]窮鼠齧狸
Synonyms
[edit]Descendants
[edit]- Japanese: 窮鼠猫を噛む (kyūso neko o kamu)
Categories:
- Literary Chinese terms with quotations
- Chinese lemmas
- Mandarin lemmas
- Cantonese lemmas
- Chinese idioms
- Mandarin idioms
- Cantonese idioms
- Chinese chengyu
- Mandarin chengyu
- Cantonese chengyu
- Chinese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Chinese terms spelled with 窮
- Chinese terms spelled with 鼠
- Chinese terms spelled with 齧
- Chinese terms spelled with 狸