有早知，冇乞兒

Chinese

		to have; there is; there are to have; there is; there are; to exist; to be	to know earlier		not have (dialectal)	beggar; miser; stingy person
trad. (有早知，冇乞兒)		有	早知	，	冇	乞兒
simp. (有早知，冇乞儿)		有	早知	，	冇	乞儿
alternative forms		有早知冇乞兒／有早知冇乞儿
Literally: “if everyone can predict the future, there would be no beggars”.

Pronunciation

• Cantonese (Jyutping): jau⁵ zou² zi¹, mou⁵ hat¹ ji^4-1

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• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: jau⁵ zou² zi¹, mou⁵ hat¹ ji^4-1
    • Yale: yáuh jóu jī, móuh hāt yī
    • Cantonese Pinyin: jau⁵ dzou² dzi¹, mou⁵ hat⁷ ji^4-1
    • Guangdong Romanization: yeo⁵ zou² ji¹, mou⁵ hed¹ yi^4-1
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jɐu̯¹³ t͡sou̯³⁵ t͡siː⁵⁵ mou̯¹³ hɐt̚⁵ jiː²¹⁻⁵⁵/

Proverb

有早知，冇乞兒

1. (Cantonese) If everyone had accurate foresight, nobody would fail; hindsight is 20/20

Synonyms

• 事後諸葛亮／事后诸葛亮 (shìhòu Zhūgě Liàng), 事後孔明／事后孔明
• 馬後炮／马后炮 (mǎhòupào)