知人知面不知心

Chinese

		to know; to be aware	man; person; people	to know; to be aware	face; side; surface face; side; surface; aspect; top	to not know; to have no idea of; to be ignorant of to not know; to have no idea of; to be ignorant of; to wonder if	heart; mind
simp. and trad. (知人知面不知心)		知	人	知	面	不知	心
Literally: “know the person, know the face, but not know the heart”.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): zhī rén zhī miàn bù zhī xīn

  (Zhuyin): ㄓ ㄖㄣˊ ㄓ ㄇㄧㄢˋ ㄅㄨˋ ㄓ ㄒㄧㄣ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): zi¹ jan⁴ zi¹ min⁶ bat¹ zi¹ sam¹
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): ti jîn ti biān put ti sim

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: zhī rén zhī miàn bù zhī xīn
    • Zhuyin: ㄓ ㄖㄣˊ ㄓ ㄇㄧㄢˋ ㄅㄨˋ ㄓ ㄒㄧㄣ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: jhih rén jhih miàn bù jhih sin
    • Wade–Giles: chih¹ jên² chih¹ mien⁴ pu⁴ chih¹ hsin¹
    • Yale: jr̄ rén jr̄ myàn bù jr̄ syīn
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: jy ren jy miann bu jy shin
    • Palladius: чжи жэнь чжи мянь бу чжи синь (čži žɛnʹ čži mjanʹ bu čži sinʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵ ʐən³⁵ ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵ mi̯ɛn⁵¹⁻⁵³ pu⁵¹ ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵ ɕin⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: zi¹ jan⁴ zi¹ min⁶ bat¹ zi¹ sam¹
    • Yale: jī yàhn jī mihn bāt jī sām
    • Cantonese Pinyin: dzi¹ jan⁴ dzi¹ min⁶ bat⁷ dzi¹ sam¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: ji¹ yen⁴ ji¹ min⁶ bed¹ ji¹ sem¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡siː⁵⁵ jɐn²¹ t͡siː⁵⁵ miːn²² pɐt̚⁵ t͡siː⁵⁵ sɐm⁵⁵/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: ti jîn ti biān put ti sim
    • Tâi-lô: ti jîn ti biān put ti sim
    • Phofsit Daibuun: dy jiin dy bien pud dy sym
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /ti⁴⁴⁻³³ zin²³ ti⁴⁴⁻³³ biɛn³³ put̚³²⁻⁴ ti⁴⁴⁻³³ sim⁴⁴/

Proverb

知人知面不知心

1. one may know a person from the outside but may not understand their true nature

Synonyms

• 人心隔肚皮 (rénxīn gé dùpí)
• 知人口面不知心
• (Wu) 知人知面勿知心