阿姨洗鐵路

See also: 阿姨洗铁路

Chinese

		maternal aunt	to wash; to bathe	railroad; railway
trad. (阿姨洗鐵路)		阿姨	洗	鐵路
simp. (阿姨洗铁路)		阿姨	洗	铁路
Literally: “auntie is washing the train tracks”.

Etymology

Humorous phono-semantic matching from Japanese 愛(あい)してる (ai shiteru, “I love you”).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): āyí xǐ tiělù

  (Zhuyin): ㄚ ㄧˊ ㄒㄧˇ ㄊㄧㄝˇ ㄌㄨˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): aa³ ji^4-1 sai² tit³ lou⁶

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: āyí xǐ tiělù [Phonetic: āyíxítiělù]
    • Zhuyin: ㄚ ㄧˊ ㄒㄧˇ ㄊㄧㄝˇ ㄌㄨˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: ayí sǐ tiělù
    • Wade–Giles: a¹-i² hsi³ tʻieh³-lu⁴
    • Yale: ā-yí syǐ tyě-lù
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: ayi shii tieeluh
    • Palladius: аи си телу (ai si telu)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ˀä⁵⁵ i³⁵ ɕi²¹⁴⁻³⁵ tʰi̯ɛ²¹⁴⁻²¹ lu⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: aa³ ji^4-1 sai² tit³ lou⁶
    • Yale: a yī sái tit louh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: aa³ ji^4-1 sai² tit⁸ lou⁶
    • Guangdong Romanization: a³ yi^4-1 sei² tid³ lou⁶
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /aː³³ jiː²¹⁻⁵⁵ sɐi̯³⁵ tʰiːt̚³ lou̯²²/

Phrase

阿姨洗鐵路

1. (Internet slang, humorous) I love you