畏首畏尾
Chinese
| to fear | head; chief; first (occasion) head; chief; first (occasion); first (thing); measure word for poems |
to fear | tail | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| simp. and trad. (畏首畏尾) |
畏 | 首 | 畏 | 尾 | |
| Literally: “to be afraid of the head, terrified of the tail”. | |||||
Pronunciation
- Mandarin
- (Pinyin): wèishǒuwèiwěi
- (Zhuyin): ㄨㄟˋ ㄕㄡˇ ㄨㄟˋ ㄨㄟˇ
- Cantonese (Jyutping): wai3 sau2 wai3 mei5
- Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)+
- Hanyu Pinyin: wèishǒuwèiwěi
- Zhuyin: ㄨㄟˋ ㄕㄡˇ ㄨㄟˋ ㄨㄟˇ
- Tongyong Pinyin: wèishǒuwèiwěi
- Wade–Giles: wei4-shou3-wei4-wei3
- Yale: wèi-shǒu-wèi-wěi
- Gwoyeu Romatzyh: weyshoouweywoei
- Palladius: вэйшоувэйвэй (vɛjšouvɛjvɛj)
- Sinological IPA (key): /weɪ̯⁵¹ ʂoʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ weɪ̯⁵¹ weɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
- (Standard Chinese)+
- Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)+
- Jyutping: wai3 sau2 wai3 mei5
- Yale: wai sáu wai méih
- Cantonese Pinyin: wai3 sau2 wai3 mei5
- Guangdong Romanization: wei3 seo2 wei3 méi5
- Sinological IPA (key): /wɐi̯³³ sɐu̯³⁵ wɐi̯³³ mei̯¹³/
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)+
Idiom
畏首畏尾
- to be afraid of the slightest thing; ever fearful and nervous; to be full of misgivings; to be overcautious
Synonyms
- 畏頭畏尾／畏头畏尾