瘦死的駱駝比馬大
Chinese
| tight; thin; lean | to die; impassable; uncrossable to die; impassable; uncrossable; inflexible; rigid |
really and truly; aim; clear really and truly; aim; clear; (possessive, modifying, or descriptive particle); of |
camel; camel cricket | side by side; compare; to gesture side by side; compare; to gesture; than; ratio |
horse; surname | big; great; huge big; great; huge; large; major; wide; deep; oldest; eldest; doctor | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| trad. (瘦死的駱駝比馬大) | 瘦 | 死 | 的 | 駱駝 | 比 | 馬 | 大 | |
| simp. (瘦死的骆驼比马大) | 瘦 | 死 | 的 | 骆驼 | 比 | 马 | 大 | |
| alternative forms | 餓死的駱駝比馬大／饿死的骆驼比马大 | |||||||
| Literally: “a camel starved to death is (still) bigger than a (living) horse”. | ||||||||
Pronunciation
- Mandarin
- (Pinyin): shòu sǐ de luòtuo bǐ mǎ dà
- (Zhuyin): ㄕㄡˋ ㄙˇ ˙ㄉㄜ ㄌㄨㄛˋ ˙ㄊㄨㄛ ㄅㄧˇ ㄇㄚˇ ㄉㄚˋ
- Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)+
- Hanyu Pinyin: shòu sǐ de luòtuo bǐ mǎ dà [Phonetic: shòusǐdeluòtuobímǎdà]
- Zhuyin: ㄕㄡˋ ㄙˇ ˙ㄉㄜ ㄌㄨㄛˋ ˙ㄊㄨㄛ ㄅㄧˇ ㄇㄚˇ ㄉㄚˋ
- Tongyong Pinyin: shòu sǐh de̊ luòtuo̊ bǐ mǎ dà
- Wade–Giles: shou4 ssŭ3 tê5 lo4-tʻo5 pi3 ma3 ta4
- Yale: shòu sž de lwò-two bǐ mǎ dà
- Gwoyeu Romatzyh: show syy .de luoh.tuo bii maa dah
- Palladius: шоу сы дэ лото би ма да (šou sy dɛ loto bi ma da)
- Sinological IPA (key): /ʂoʊ̯⁵¹ sz̩²¹⁴ d̥ə⁴ lu̯ɔ⁵¹ tʰu̯ɔ¹ pi²¹⁴⁻³⁵ mä²¹⁴⁻²¹ tä⁵¹/
- (Standard Chinese)+
Proverb
瘦死的駱駝比馬大
- (figurative) Although a rich family has become less rich than previous, they are still richer than a poor family.
- 噯，我也是知道艱難的。但俗語說的：『瘦死的駱駝比馬大』，憑他怎樣，你老拔根寒毛比我們的腰還粗呢！ [Written Vernacular Chinese, trad.]
- From: Cao Xueqin, Dream of the Red Chamber, mid-18th century CE
- Ài, wǒ yěshì zhīdào jiānnán de. Dàn súyǔ shuō de: ‘Shòusǐ de luòtuo bǐ mǎ dà’, píng tā zěnyàng, nǐlǎo bá gēn hánmáo bǐ wǒmen de yāo hái cū ne! [Pinyin]
- Alas, I understand that's hard. But as the saying goes, "A camel starved to death is still larger than a horse". No matter how, a hair plucked from you is still thicker than our waists (i.e. a small donation from you is still much more than our worth) !
嗳，我也是知道艰难的。但俗语说的：『瘦死的骆驼比马大』，凭他怎样，你老拔根寒毛比我们的腰还粗呢！ [Written Vernacular Chinese, simp.]
- (figurative) Although someone/something is inferior compared with oneself's past or fellows, the one is still better than people/things of one's inferior rank.