神龍見首不見尾

Chinese

 
God; unusual; mysterious
God; unusual; mysterious; soul; spirit; divine essence; lively; spiritual being
dragon; imperial; surname
 
to see; to meet; to appear
to see; to meet; to appear; to interview
 
head; chief; first (occasion)
head; chief; first (occasion); first (thing); measure word for poems
not; no
 
to see; to meet; to appear
to see; to meet; to appear; to interview
tail
trad. (神龍見首不見尾)
simp. (神龙见首不见尾)
Literally: “one can see the head of a heavenly dragon, but not the tail”.

Pronunciation

  • Mandarin
    (Pinyin): shén lóng jiàn shǒu bù jiàn wěi
    (Zhuyin): ㄕㄣˊ ㄌㄨㄥˊ ㄐㄧㄢˋ ㄕㄡˇ ㄅㄨˋ ㄐㄧㄢˋ ㄨㄟˇ

  • Mandarin
    • (Standard Chinese)+
      • Hanyu Pinyin: shén lóng jiàn shǒu bù jiàn wěi [Phonetic: shén lóng jiàn shǒu jiàn wěi]
      • Zhuyin: ㄕㄣˊ ㄌㄨㄥˊ ㄐㄧㄢˋ ㄕㄡˇ ㄅㄨˋ ㄐㄧㄢˋ ㄨㄟˇ
      • Tongyong Pinyin: shén lóng jiàn shǒu bù jiàn wěi
      • Wade–Giles: shên2 lung2 chien4 shou3 pu4 chien4 wei3
      • Yale: shén lúng jyàn shǒu bù jyàn wěi
      • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shern long jiann shoou bu jiann woei
      • Palladius: шэнь лун цзянь шоу бу цзянь вэй (šɛnʹ lun czjanʹ šou bu czjanʹ vɛj)
      • Sinological IPA (key): /ʂən³⁵ lʊŋ³⁵⁻⁵⁵ t͡ɕi̯ɛn⁵¹ ʂoʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ pu⁵¹⁻³⁵ t͡ɕi̯ɛn⁵¹ weɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/

Idiom

神龍見首不見尾

  1. to maintain an air of mystery, to not reveal oneself; to play cat and mouse; to remain aloof
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