硬骨頭

Chinese

		hard; stiff; strong hard; stiff; strong; firm	bone; character; personal quality
trad. (硬骨頭)		硬	骨頭
simp. (硬骨头)		硬	骨头

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): yìnggǔtou, yìnggútou

  (Zhuyin): ㄧㄥˋ ㄍㄨˇ ˙ㄊㄡ, ㄧㄥˋ ㄍㄨˊ ˙ㄊㄡ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): ngaang⁶ gwat¹ tau⁴

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, standard in Mainland)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: yìnggǔtou
    • Zhuyin: ㄧㄥˋ ㄍㄨˇ ˙ㄊㄡ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: yìnggǔto̊u
    • Wade–Giles: ying⁴-ku³-tʻou⁵
    • Yale: yìng-gǔ-tou
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: yinqguu.tou
    • Palladius: ингутоу (ingutou)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /iŋ⁵¹ ku²¹⁴ tʰoʊ̯⁴/
      
  • (Standard Chinese, colloquial variant in Mainland, standard in Taiwan)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: yìnggútou
    • Zhuyin: ㄧㄥˋ ㄍㄨˊ ˙ㄊㄡ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: yìnggúto̊u
    • Wade–Giles: ying⁴-ku²-tʻou⁵
    • Yale: yìng-gú-tou
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: yinqgwu.tou
    • Palladius: ингутоу (ingutou)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /iŋ⁵¹ ku³⁵ tʰoʊ̯³/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: ngaang⁶ gwat¹ tau⁴
    • Yale: ngaahng gwāt tàuh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: ngaang⁶ gwat⁷ tau⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: ngang⁶ gued¹ teo⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ŋaːŋ²² kʷɐt̚⁵ tʰɐu̯²¹/

Noun

硬骨頭

1. (figurative) strong-willed person; person of unyielding character
2. (figurative) hard nut; arduous task; tough issue

   • 例如進攻某一運動中之敵，打早了，暴露了自己，給了敵人以預防條件；打遲了，敵已集中駐止，變為啃硬骨頭。 [MSC, trad.]
     例如进攻某一运动中之敌，打早了，暴露了自己，给了敌人以预防条件；打迟了，敌已集中驻止，变为啃硬骨头。 [MSC, simp.]

     From: 1938, 毛澤東 (Mao Zedong), 《論持久戰》 (On Protracted War), 《毛澤東選集》. English translation based on the Foreign Languages Press edition

     Lìrú jìngōng mǒu yī yùndòng zhōng zhī dí, dǎ zǎo le, bàolù le zìjǐ, gěi le dírén yǐ yùfáng tiáojiàn; dǎ chí le, dí yǐ jízhōng zhùzhǐ, biànwéi kěn yìnggǔtou. [Pinyin]

     For example, in attacking an enemy force on the move, if we strike too early, we expose ourselves and give the enemy a chance to prepare, and if we strike too late, the enemy may have encamped and concentrated his forces, presenting us with a hard nut to crack.

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “strong-willed person”): 軟柿子／软柿子 (ruǎnshìzi)