不見棺材不掉淚

Chinese

		to not see; to not meet	coffin; 8 circle	not; no	to shed tears
trad. (不見棺材不掉淚)		不見	棺材	不	掉淚
simp. (不见棺材不掉泪)		不见	棺材	不	掉泪
alternative forms		不見棺材不落淚／不见棺材不落泪
Literally: “not shed a tear until one sees the coffin”.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): bùjiàn guāncai bù diàolèi

  (Zhuyin): ㄅㄨˋ ㄐㄧㄢˋ ㄍㄨㄢ ˙ㄘㄞ ㄅㄨˋ ㄉㄧㄠˋ ㄌㄟˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): bat¹ gin³ gun¹ coi⁴ bat¹ diu⁶ leoi⁶

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: bùjiàn guāncai bù diàolèi [Phonetic: bújiàn guāncai bú diàolèi]
    • Zhuyin: ㄅㄨˋ ㄐㄧㄢˋ ㄍㄨㄢ ˙ㄘㄞ ㄅㄨˋ ㄉㄧㄠˋ ㄌㄟˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: bùjiàn guancåi bù diàolèi
    • Wade–Giles: pu⁴-chien⁴ kuan¹-tsʻai⁵ pu⁴ tiao⁴-lei⁴
    • Yale: bù-jyàn gwān-tsai bù dyàu-lèi
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: bujiann guan.tsai bu diawley
    • Palladius: буцзянь гуаньцай бу дяолэй (buczjanʹ guanʹcaj bu djaolɛj)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /pu⁵¹⁻³⁵ t͡ɕi̯ɛn⁵¹ ku̯än⁵⁵ t͡sʰaɪ̯² pu⁵¹⁻³⁵ ti̯ɑʊ̯⁵¹⁻⁵³ leɪ̯⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: bat¹ gin³ gun¹ coi⁴ bat¹ diu⁶ leoi⁶
    • Yale: bāt gin gūn chòih bāt diuh leuih
    • Cantonese Pinyin: bat⁷ gin³ gun¹ tsoi⁴ bat⁷ diu⁶ loey⁶
    • Guangdong Romanization: bed¹ gin³ gun¹ coi⁴ bed¹ diu⁶ lêu⁶
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /pɐt̚⁵ kiːn³³ kuːn⁵⁵ t͡sʰɔːi̯²¹ pɐt̚⁵ tiːu̯²² lɵy̯²²/

Idiom

不見棺材不掉淚

1. to refuse to be convinced until one is faced with the grim reality; tenacious, resolute or pertinacious in one's pursuit of a goal despite obstacles or advice

Synonyms

• (Cantonese) 針唔㓤到肉唔知痛／针唔㓤到肉唔知痛 (zam¹ m⁴ gat¹ dou³ juk⁶ m⁴ zi¹ tung³)
• (Hokkien) 無看著棺柴𣍐流目屎／无看著棺柴𫧃流目屎

Dialectal synonyms of 不見棺材不掉淚 (“to refuse to be convinced until one is faced with the grim reality”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		不見棺材不掉淚, 不見棺材不落淚, 不見棺材不流淚
Northeastern Mandarin	Beijing	不見棺材不掉淚
	Taiwan	不見棺材不掉淚
	Singapore	不見棺材不掉淚
Cantonese	Hong Kong	唔見棺材唔流眼淚

See also

• 留得青山在，不怕沒柴燒／留得青山在，不怕没柴烧 (liú dé qīngshān zài, bùpà méi chái shāo)
• 不到黃河心不死／不到黄河心不死 (bù dào Huánghé xīn bù sǐ)
• (Thai) ไม่เห็นโลงศพไม่หลั่งน้ำตา (mâi-hěn-loong-sòp-mâi-làng-nám-dtaa)