頭痛醫頭，腳痛醫腳

Chinese
head; (noun suffix) ache; pain; sorrow
 
medical; medicine; doctor; to cure; to treat
 head; (noun suffix) role; foot; base ache; pain; sorrow
 
medical; medicine; doctor; to cure; to treat
 role; foot; base
trad. (頭痛醫頭，腳痛醫腳) 頭 痛 醫 頭 ， 腳 痛 醫 腳
simp. (头痛医头，脚痛医脚) 头 痛 医 头 ， 脚 痛 医 脚
Literally: “to treat the head when the head aches, to treat the foot when the foot hurts”.

Pronunciation
  • Mandarin
    (Pinyin): tóutòng yī tóu, jiǎotòng yī jiǎo
    (Zhuyin): ㄊㄡˊ ㄊㄨㄥˋ ㄧ ㄊㄡˊ, ㄐㄧㄠˇ ㄊㄨㄥˋ ㄧ ㄐㄧㄠˇ
  • Cantonese (Jyutping): tau4 tung3 ji1 tau4, goek3 tung3 ji1 goek3
  • Mandarin
    • (Standard Chinese)+
      • Pinyin: tóutòng yī tóu, jiǎotòng yī jiǎo
      • Zhuyin: ㄊㄡˊ ㄊㄨㄥˋ ㄧ ㄊㄡˊ, ㄐㄧㄠˇ ㄊㄨㄥˋ ㄧ ㄐㄧㄠˇ
      • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tourtonq i tour, jeautonq i jeau
      • IPA (key): /tʰoʊ̯³⁵ tʰʊŋ⁵¹ i⁵⁵ tʰoʊ̯³⁵ t͡ɕi̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹¹ tʰʊŋ⁵¹ i⁵⁵ t͡ɕi̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
  • Cantonese

Idiom

頭痛醫頭，腳痛醫腳

  1. to treat symptoms but not the disease; to take stopgap measures rather than getting to the root cause of the problem

Synonyms
  • 頭疼醫頭，腳疼醫腳／头疼医头，脚疼医脚
  • 頭痛灸頭，腳痛灸腳／头痛灸头，脚痛灸脚
  • 頭痛治頭，足痛治足／头痛治头，足痛治足
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