食碗面反碗底

Chinese

		eat; food; to feed eat; food; to feed; animal feed	bowl; cup	face; side; surface face; side; surface; aspect; top	wrong side out or up; anti-	bowl; cup	background; bottom; base background; bottom; base; (possessive part.); (subor. part.)
trad. (食碗面反碗底)		食	碗	面	反	碗	底
simp. #(食碗面反碗底)		食	碗	面	反	碗	底

Pronunciation

• Cantonese (Jyutping): sik⁶ wun² min^6-2 faan² wun² dai²

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• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: sik⁶ wun² min^6-2 faan² wun² dai²
    • Yale: sihk wún mín fáan wún dái
    • Cantonese Pinyin: sik⁹ wun² min^6-2 faan² wun² dai²
    • Guangdong Romanization: xig⁶ wun² min^6-2 fan² wun² dei²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sɪk̚² wuːn³⁵ miːn²²⁻³⁵ faːn³⁵ wuːn³⁵ tɐi̯³⁵/

Idiom

食碗面反碗底

1. (Cantonese) to be ungrateful; to bite the hand that feeds one

   • 呢啲噉嘅人，你使同佢客氣嘅咩？佢兩仔爺都係一樣人！食碗面反碗底，當初佢點樣帶起你爸爸發達，點知發咗達，調轉槍頭就食咗你！ [Cantonese, trad.]
     呢啲噉嘅人，你使同佢客气嘅咩？佢两仔爷都系一样人！食碗面反碗底，当初佢点样带起你爸爸发达，点知发咗达，调转枪头就食咗你！ [Cantonese, simp.]

     From: 1964, Under Hong Kong's Roof (spoken by Ng Cho-fan)

     ni¹ di¹ gam² ge³ jan⁴, nei⁵ sai² tung⁴ keoi⁵ haak³ hei³ ge³ me¹? keoi⁵ loeng⁵ zai² je⁴ dou¹ hai⁶ jat¹ joeng⁶ jan⁴! sik⁶ wun² min^6-2 faan² wun² dai², dong¹ co¹ keoi⁵ dim² joeng^6-2 daai³ hei² nei⁵ baa^1-4 baa¹ faat³ daat⁶, dim² zi¹ faat³ zo² daat⁶, diu⁶ zyun³ coeng¹ tau⁴ zau⁶ sik⁶ zo² nei⁵! [Jyutping]

     No need to be polite to this kind of people! They are the same kind of person, both the father and the son! They bit the hand that fed them! At first, they made your father become rich, but after that they backstabbed you!

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 吃裡扒外 (“to live off someone while helping others; to repay a kindness by stabbing someone in the back”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		吃裡扒外
Northeastern Mandarin	Beijing	吃裡扒外
	Taiwan	吃裡扒外
	Singapore	吃裡扒外
Cantonese	Guangzhou	食碗面反碗底
	Hong Kong	食碗面反碗底
Hakka	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	家神透外鬼
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	家神透外鬼
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	家神透外鬼
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	家神透外鬼
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	家神透外鬼
Southern Min	Xiamen	食碗內說碗外, 食碗內講碗外
	Quanzhou	食碗內說碗外
	Zhangzhou	食碗內說碗外
	Tainan	食碗內洗碗外, 食碗內說碗外