早知今日，悔不當初

Chinese

		to know earlier	today; nowadays; the present time		regret	not; no	originally; at first; at that time originally; at first; at that time; at the outset; in the first place
trad. (早知今日，悔不當初)		早知	今日	，	悔	不	當初
simp. (早知今日，悔不当初)		早知	今日	，	悔	不	当初
Literally: “if one had known about this day from the beginning, there would have been no point in starting”.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): zǎozhī jīnrì, huǐ bù dāngchū

  (Zhuyin): ㄗㄠˇ ㄓ ㄐㄧㄣ ㄖˋ , ㄏㄨㄟˇ ㄅㄨˋ ㄉㄤ ㄔㄨ

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: zǎozhī jīnrì, huǐ bù dāngchū
    • Zhuyin: ㄗㄠˇ ㄓ ㄐㄧㄣ ㄖˋ , ㄏㄨㄟˇ ㄅㄨˋ ㄉㄤ ㄔㄨ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: zǎojhih jinrìh, huěi bù dangchu
    • Wade–Giles: tsao³-chih¹ chin¹-jih⁴, hui³ pu⁴ tang¹-chʻu¹
    • Yale: dzǎu-jr̄ jīn-r̀-, hwěi bù dāng-chū
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tzaojy jinryh, hoei bu dangchu
    • Palladius: цзаочжи цзиньжи, хуэй бу данчу (czaočži czinʹži, xuej bu danču)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵ t͡ɕin⁵⁵ ʐ̩⁵¹ xu̯eɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ pu⁵¹ tɑŋ⁵⁵ ʈ͡ʂʰu⁵⁵/

Idiom

早知今日，悔不當初

1. to regret one's past behaviour

Synonyms

• 早知今日，何必當初／早知今日，何必当初 (zǎozhī jīnrì, hébì dāngchū)
• 既有今日，何必當初／既有今日，何必当初 (jìyǒu jīnrì hébì dāngchū)
• (Hakka) 早知拉尿，企到天光