食不言，寢不語

Chinese

		eat; food; to feed eat; food; to feed; animal feed	not; no	to speak; to say; talk to speak; to say; talk; word		lie down	not; no	speech; language; dialect speech; language; dialect; tell to
trad. (食不言，寢不語)		食	不	言	，	寢	不	語
simp. (食不言，寝不语)		食	不	言	，	寝	不	语

Etymology

From the Analects, Book 10 (《論語·鄉黨》):

祭肉不出三日。出三日，不食之矣。食不語，寢不言。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

---

祭肉不出三日。出三日，不食之矣。食不语，寝不言。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

Jì ròu bù chū sān rì. Chū sān rì, bù shí zhī yǐ. Shí bù yǔ, qǐn bù yán. [Pinyin]

The flesh of his family sacrifice he did not keep over three days. If kept over three days, people could not eat it. When eating, he did not converse. When in bed, he did not speak.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): shí bù yán, qǐn bù yǔ

  (Zhuyin): ㄕˊ ㄅㄨˋ ㄧㄢˊ , ㄑㄧㄣˇ ㄅㄨˋ ㄩˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): sik⁶ bat¹ jin⁴, cam² bat¹ jyu⁵

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: shí bù yán, qǐn bù yǔ
    • Zhuyin: ㄕˊ ㄅㄨˋ ㄧㄢˊ , ㄑㄧㄣˇ ㄅㄨˋ ㄩˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: shíh bù yán, cǐn bù yǔ
    • Wade–Giles: shih² pu⁴ yen², chʻin³ pu⁴ yü³
    • Yale: shŕ bù yán-, chǐn bù yǔ
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shyr bu yan, chiin bu yeu
    • Palladius: ши бу янь, цинь бу юй (ši bu janʹ, cinʹ bu juj)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʂʐ̩³⁵ pu⁵¹ jɛn³⁵ t͡ɕʰin²¹⁴⁻²¹ pu⁵¹ y²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: sik⁶ bat¹ jin⁴, cam² bat¹ jyu⁵
    • Yale: sihk bāt yìhn, chám bāt yúh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: sik⁹ bat⁷ jin⁴, tsam² bat⁷ jy⁵
    • Guangdong Romanization: xig⁶ bed¹ yin⁴, cem² bed¹ yu⁵
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sɪk̚² pɐt̚⁵ jiːn²¹ t͡sʰɐm³⁵ pɐt̚⁵ jyː¹³/

Proverb

食不言，寢不語

1. to not speak while eating or sleeping