吃人不吐骨頭

Chinese

FWOTD – 17 February 2020

	eat; eradicate; destroy eat; eradicate; destroy; receive; stammer	man; person; people	not; no	vomit; to spit	bone; character; personal quality
trad. (吃人不吐骨頭)	吃	人	不	吐	骨頭
simp. (吃人不吐骨头)	吃	人	不	吐	骨头
alternative forms	吃肉不吐骨頭／吃肉不吐骨头吃人不吐骨吃死人不吐骨頭／吃死人不吐骨头食人唔𦧲骨 Cantonese
Literally: “to eat a person without spitting bones”.

Etymology

但此人一肚子壞水兒，吃人不吐骨頭，成事不足，敗事有餘，只能拉攏，不能得罪。 [MSC, trad.]

但此人一肚子坏水儿，吃人不吐骨头，成事不足，败事有余，只能拉拢，不能得罪。 [MSC, simp.]

From: 1980, Duanmu Hongliang, 《曹雪芹》

Dàn cǐ rén yīdùzǐhuàishuǐr, chī rén bù tù gǔtou, chéngshìbùzú, bàishìyǒuyú, zhǐnéng lālǒng, bùnéng dézuì. [Pinyin]

But this man is full of evil intentions, extremely ruthless and greedy, and worse than useless. He can only be roped in rather than being offended.

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): chī rén bù tǔ gǔtou, chī rén bù tǔ gútou

(Zhuyin): ㄔㄖㄣˊ ㄅㄨˋ ㄊㄨˇ ㄍㄨˇ ˙ㄊㄡ, ㄔㄖㄣˊ ㄅㄨˋ ㄊㄨˇ ㄍㄨˊ ˙ㄊㄡ
Cantonese (Jyutping): hek³ jan⁴ bat¹ tou³ gwat¹ tau⁴

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese, standard in Mainland)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: chī rén bù tǔ gǔtou [Phonetic: chīrénbùtúgǔtou]
  - Zhuyin: ㄔㄖㄣˊ ㄅㄨˋ ㄊㄨˇ ㄍㄨˇ ˙ㄊㄡ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: chih rén bù tǔ gǔto̊u
  - Wade–Giles: chʻih¹ jên² pu⁴ tʻu³ ku³-tʻou⁵
  - Yale: chr̄ rén bù tǔ gǔ-tou
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: chy ren bu tuu guu.tou
  - Palladius: чи жэнь бу ту гутоу (či žɛnʹ bu tu gutou)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʈ͡ʂʰʐ̩⁵⁵ ʐən³⁵ pu⁵¹ tʰu²¹⁴⁻³⁵ ku²¹⁴ tʰoʊ̯⁴/
- (Standard Chinese, colloquial variant in Mainland, standard in Taiwan)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: chī rén bù tǔ gútou
  - Zhuyin: ㄔㄖㄣˊ ㄅㄨˋ ㄊㄨˇ ㄍㄨˊ ˙ㄊㄡ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: chih rén bù tǔ gúto̊u
  - Wade–Giles: chʻih¹ jên² pu⁴ tʻu³ ku²-tʻou⁵
  - Yale: chr̄ rén bù tǔ gú-tou
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: chy ren bu tuu gwu.tou
  - Palladius: чи жэнь бу ту гутоу (či žɛnʹ bu tu gutou)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʈ͡ʂʰʐ̩⁵⁵ ʐən³⁵ pu⁵¹ tʰu²¹⁴⁻²¹ ku³⁵ tʰoʊ̯³/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: hek³ jan⁴ bat¹ tou³ gwat¹ tau⁴
  - Yale: hek yàhn bāt tou gwāt tàuh
  - Cantonese Pinyin: hek⁸ jan⁴ bat⁷ tou³ gwat⁷ tau⁴
  - Guangdong Romanization: hég³ yen⁴ bed¹ tou³ gued¹ teo⁴
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /hɛːk̚³ jɐn²¹ pɐt̚⁵ tʰou̯³³ kʷɐt̚⁵ tʰɐu̯²¹/

Idiom

吃人不吐骨頭

(derogatory, figurative) to be extremely ruthless and greedy

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