牛皮燈籠

Chinese
 
cattle hide; big talk; bragging; boasting
 Chinese lantern
trad. (牛皮燈籠) 牛皮 燈籠
simp. (牛皮灯笼) 牛皮 灯笼
Literally: “lantern made of cattle hide”.

Etymology

First part of a xiehouyu. The second part could be:

  1. 點不明 (Mandarin) / 點極都唔明 (Cantonese) – cannot be lit / cannot be made to understand
  2. 肚裡亮 – bright inside / understand in one's mind

Pronunciation
  • Mandarin
    (Pinyin): niúpí dēnglong, niúpí dēnglóng
    (Zhuyin): ㄋㄧㄡˊ ㄆㄧˊ ㄉㄥ ˙ㄌㄨㄥ, ㄋㄧㄡˊ ㄆㄧˊ ㄉㄥ ㄌㄨㄥˊ
  • Cantonese (Jyutping): ngau4 pei4 dang1 lung4

Idiom

牛皮燈籠

  1. stupid or stubborn person; someone who does not understand or listen to others
  2. someone who understands in one's mind
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