囫圇吞棗

Chinese

		complete; whole	to swallow; to take	jujube
trad. (囫圇吞棗)		囫圇	吞	棗
simp. (囫囵吞枣)		囫囵	吞	枣
variant forms		鶻崙吞棗／鹘仑吞枣
Literally: “to swallow a jujube whole”.

Etymology

From a story in the Blue Cliff Record (《碧巖錄》):

若是知有底人，細嚼來嚥；若是不知有底人，一似渾崙吞箇棗。 [Classical Chinese, trad.][▼ expand/hide]

若是知有底人，细嚼来咽；若是不知有底人，一似浑仑吞箇枣。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

Ruòshì zhī yǒu de rén, xì jué lái yān; ruòshì bùzhī yǒu de rén, yīsì húnlún tūn gè zǎo. [Pinyin]

(please add an English translation of this example)

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): húlúntūnzǎo

(Zhuyin): ㄏㄨˊ ㄌㄨㄣˊ ㄊㄨㄣㄗㄠˇ
Cantonese (Jyutping): fat¹ leon⁴ tan¹ zou²

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Pinyin: húlúntūnzǎo
  - Zhuyin: ㄏㄨˊ ㄌㄨㄣˊ ㄊㄨㄣㄗㄠˇ
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: hwuluentuentzao
  - IPA ^(key): /xu³⁵ lu̯ən³⁵ tʰu̯ən⁵⁵ t͡sɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
- (Standard Chinese, erhua-ed)⁺
  - Pinyin: húlúntūnzǎor
  - Zhuyin: ㄏㄨˊ ㄌㄨㄣˊ ㄊㄨㄣㄗㄠˇㄦ
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: hwuluentuentzaol
  - IPA ^(key): /xu³⁵ lu̯ən³⁵ tʰu̯ən⁵⁵ t͡saʊɻʷ²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
  - Jyutping: fat¹ leon⁴ tan¹ zou²
  - Yale: fāt lèuhn tān jóu
  - Cantonese Pinyin: fat⁷ loen⁴ tan¹ dzou²
  - Guangdong Romanization: fed¹ lên⁴ ten¹ zou²
  - IPA ^(key): /fɐt̚⁵ lɵn²¹ tʰɐn⁵⁵ t͡sou̯³⁵/

Idiom

囫圇吞棗

(figuratively) to accept without thinking; to read without understanding

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