有頭無尾

Chinese

		to have; there is; there are to have; there is; there are; to exist; to be	head; (noun suffix)	not have	tail
trad. (有頭無尾)		有	頭	無	尾
simp. (有头无尾)		有	头	无	尾
Literally: “there is a head, but no tail”.

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): yǒutóuwúwěi

(Zhuyin): ㄧㄡˇ ㄊㄡˊ ㄨˊ ㄨㄟˇ
Cantonese (Jyutping): jau⁵ tau⁴ mou⁴ mei⁵
Min Nan (Hokkien, POJ): ū-thâu bô-bé

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: yǒutóuwúwěi
  - Zhuyin: ㄧㄡˇ ㄊㄡˊ ㄨˊ ㄨㄟˇ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: yǒutóuwúwěi
  - Wade–Giles: yu³-tʻou²-wu²-wei³
  - Yale: yǒu-tóu-wú-wěi
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: yeoutourwuwoei
  - Palladius: ютоуувэй (jutouuvɛj)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /joʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ tʰoʊ̯³⁵ u³⁵ weɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: jau⁵ tau⁴ mou⁴ mei⁵
  - Yale: yáuh tàuh mòuh méih
  - Cantonese Pinyin: jau⁵ tau⁴ mou⁴ mei⁵
  - Guangdong Romanization: yeo⁵ teo⁴ mou⁴ méi⁵
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /jɐu̯¹³ tʰɐu̯²¹ mou̯²¹ mei̯¹³/
Min Nan
- (Hokkien: Xiamen, General Taiwanese)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: ū-thâu bô-bé
  - Tâi-lô: ū-thâu bô-bé
  - Phofsit Daibuun: uxtaau boi'bea
  - IPA (Kaohsiung): /u³³⁻²¹ tʰau²³⁻³³ bɤ²³⁻³³ be⁴¹/
  - IPA (Taipei): /u³³⁻¹¹ tʰau²⁴⁻¹¹ bo²⁴⁻¹¹ be⁵³/
  - IPA (Xiamen): /u²²⁻²¹ tʰau²⁴⁻²² bo²⁴⁻²² be⁵³/

Idiom

有頭無尾

to have a beginning but not an end; to fail to carry things through; to leave something unfinished; to have begun but not well-ended; to not have spoken or done something to the point

Synonyms

有始無終／有始无终 (yǒushǐwúzhōng)
虎頭蛇尾／虎头蛇尾 (hǔtóushéwěi)

Antonyms

無頭無尾／无头无尾 (wútóuwúwěi)
有頭有尾／有头有尾 (yǒutóuyǒuwěi)
有始有終／有始有终 (yǒushǐyǒuzhōng)

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.