癩蛤蟆想食天鵝肉

Chinese

		toad; ugly person	to think; to believe; to suppose to think; to believe; to suppose; to wish; to want; to miss	eat; food; to feed eat; food; to feed; animal feed	swan; Tian'e	meat; flesh
trad. (癩蛤蟆想食天鵝肉)		癩蛤蟆	想	食	天鵝	肉
simp. (癞蛤蟆想食天鹅肉)		癞蛤蟆	想	食	天鹅	肉
alternative forms		癩蝦蟆想食天鵝肉／癞虾蟆想食天鹅肉
Literally: “a toad wants to eat the meat of a swan”.

Pronunciation

• Cantonese (Jyutping): laai³ haa¹ mou¹ soeng² sik⁶ tin¹ ngo⁴ juk⁶

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• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: laai³ haa¹ mou¹ soeng² sik⁶ tin¹ ngo⁴ juk⁶
    • Yale: laai hā mōu séung sihk tīn ngòh yuhk
    • Cantonese Pinyin: laai³ haa¹ mou¹ soeng² sik⁹ tin¹ ngo⁴ juk⁹
    • Guangdong Romanization: lai³ ha¹ mou¹ sêng² xig⁶ tin¹ ngo⁴ yug⁶
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /laːi̯³³ haː⁵⁵ mou̯⁵⁵ sœːŋ³⁵ sɪk̚² tʰiːn⁵⁵ ŋɔː²¹ jʊk̚²/

Proverb

癩蛤蟆想食天鵝肉

1. (Cantonese) 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

• 癩蛤蟆想吃天鵝肉／癞蛤蟆想吃天鹅肉 (làiháma xiǎng chī tiān'éròu)