食嘢唔做嘢，做嘢打爛嘢

Chinese

		to eat	(Cantonese) thing	not	to work; to do things		to work; to do things	to hit hard; to smack; to break to hit hard; to smack; to break; to smash	(Cantonese) thing
trad. (食嘢唔做嘢，做嘢打爛嘢)		食	嘢	唔	做嘢	，	做嘢	打爛	嘢
simp. (食嘢唔做嘢，做嘢打烂嘢)		食	嘢	唔	做嘢	，	做嘢	打烂	嘢
Literally: “[someone only] eats and does not do a thing; [when he actually] does things, [he] breaks things”.

Pronunciation

• Cantonese (Jyutping): sik⁶ je⁵ m⁴ zou⁶ je⁵, zou⁶ je⁵ daa² laan⁶ je⁵

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• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: sik⁶ je⁵ m⁴ zou⁶ je⁵, zou⁶ je⁵ daa² laan⁶ je⁵
    • Yale: sihk yéh m̀h jouh yéh, jouh yéh dá laahn yéh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: sik⁹ je⁵ m⁴ dzou⁶ je⁵, dzou⁶ je⁵ daa² laan⁶ je⁵
    • Guangdong Romanization: xig⁶ yé⁵ m⁴ zou⁶ yé⁵, zou⁶ yé⁵ da² lan⁶ yé⁵
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sɪk̚² jɛː¹³ m̩²¹ t͡sou̯²² jɛː¹³ t͡sou̯²² jɛː¹³ taː³⁵ laːn²² jɛː¹³/

Idiom

食嘢唔做嘢，做嘢打爛嘢

1. (Cantonese) being idle and never doing things right

Synonyms

• 成事不足，敗事有餘／成事不足，败事有余 (chéngshì bùzú, bàishì yǒuyú)