癩蛤蟆想吃天鵝肉

Chinese

		toad; ugly person	to think; to believe; to suppose to think; to believe; to suppose; to wish; to want; to miss	eat; eradicate; destroy eat; eradicate; destroy; receive; stammer	swan; Tian'e	meat; flesh
trad. (癩蛤蟆想吃天鵝肉)		癩蛤蟆	想	吃	天鵝	肉
simp. (癞蛤蟆想吃天鹅肉)		癞蛤蟆	想	吃	天鹅	肉
alternative forms		癩蝦蟆想吃天鵝肉／癞虾蟆想吃天鹅肉
Literally: “a toad wants to eat the meat of a swan”.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): làiháma xiǎng chī tiān'éròu

  (Zhuyin): ㄌㄞˋ ㄏㄚˊ ˙ㄇㄚ ㄒㄧㄤˇ ㄔ ㄊㄧㄢ ㄜˊ ㄖㄡˋ

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: làiháma xiǎng chī tiān'éròu
    • Zhuyin: ㄌㄞˋ ㄏㄚˊ ˙ㄇㄚ ㄒㄧㄤˇ ㄔ ㄊㄧㄢ ㄜˊ ㄖㄡˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: làihámå siǎng chih tian-éròu
    • Wade–Giles: lai⁴-ha²-ma⁵ hsiang³ chʻih¹ tʻien¹-o²-jou⁴
    • Yale: lài-há-ma syǎng chr̄ tyān-é-ròu
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: layhar.ma sheang chy tianerrow
    • Palladius: лайхама сян чи тяньэжоу (lajxama sjan či tjanʹežou)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /laɪ̯⁵¹ xä³⁵ mä³ ɕi̯ɑŋ²¹⁴⁻²¹ ʈ͡ʂʰʐ̩⁵⁵ tʰi̯ɛn⁵⁵ ˀɤ³⁵ ʐoʊ̯⁵¹/

Proverb

癩蛤蟆想吃天鵝肉

1. to be carried away by one's wishful thinking and overestimate one's abilities; to pursue something that is out of one's league

Synonyms

• (Cantonese) 癩蛤蟆想食天鵝肉／癞蛤蟆想食天鹅肉
• (Hokkien) 歪喙雞食好米／歪喙鸡食好米, 枵狗數想豬肝骨／枵狗数想猪肝骨, 枵貓數想海底魚／枵猫数想海底鱼

Descendants

• Thai: เป็นคางคกคิดอาจเอื้อมกินเนื้อห่านฟ้า (“to pursue something/someone that is out of one's league”)