騎驢找馬

Chinese

		to ride (an animal or bike); to sit astride	donkey	to try to find; to look for; to call on (someone) to try to find; to look for; to call on (someone); to find; to seek; to return	horse; surname
trad. (騎驢找馬)		騎	驢	找	馬
simp. (骑驴找马)		骑	驴	找	马
Literally: “to ride on a donkey and look for a horse”.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): qílǘzhǎomǎ

  (Zhuyin): ㄑㄧˊ ㄌㄩˊ ㄓㄠˇ ㄇㄚˇ

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: qílǘzhǎomǎ [Phonetic: qílǘzháomǎ]
    • Zhuyin: ㄑㄧˊ ㄌㄩˊ ㄓㄠˇ ㄇㄚˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: cílyújhǎomǎ
    • Wade–Giles: chʻi²-lü²-chao³-ma³
    • Yale: chí-lyú-jǎu-mǎ
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: chyiliujaomaa
    • Palladius: цилюйчжаома (ciljujčžaoma)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡ɕʰi³⁵ ly³⁵ ʈ͡ʂɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻³⁵ mä²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/

Idiom

騎驢找馬

1. (figurative, colloquial) to settle for what one has for the moment (e.g. job, girlfriend, etc.) while actively looking for something better

Synonyms

• (Cantonese) 騎牛搵馬／骑牛揾马