𣍐曉駛船嫌溪狹

Chinese

		to be unable to; to not know how to; to have not learned to	to sail a boat; to navigate	to dislike; to suspect	creek	narrow; limited; narrow-minded
trad. (𣍐曉駛船嫌溪狹)		𣍐曉	駛船	嫌	溪	狹
simp. (𫧃晓驶船嫌溪狭)		𫧃晓	驶船	嫌	溪	狭
alternative forms		袂曉駛船嫌溪狹／袂晓驶船嫌溪狭 𣍐曉駛船嫌溪窄／𫧃晓驶船嫌溪窄
Literally: “blame the river for being too narrow when one is unable to sail a boat”.

Pronunciation

• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): bōe-hiáu sái-chûn hiâm khoe oe̍h / bē-hiáu sái-chûn hiâm khe e̍h

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• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bōe-hiáu sái-chûn hiâm khoe oe̍h
    • Tâi-lô: buē-hiáu sái-tsûn hiâm khue ue̍h
    • Phofsit Daibuun: boexhiao sayzuun hiaam qoef oeh
    • IPA (Xiamen): /bue²²⁻²¹ hiau⁵³⁻⁴⁴ sai⁵³⁻⁴⁴ t͡sun²⁴ hiam²⁴⁻²² kʰue⁴⁴ ueʔ⁴/
  • (Hokkien: Zhangzhou, Tainan)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bē-hiáu sái-chûn hiâm khe e̍h
    • Tâi-lô: bē-hiáu sái-tsûn hiâm khe e̍h
    • Phofsit Daibuun: bexhiao sayzuun hiaam qef eh
    • IPA (Tainan): /be³³⁻¹¹ hiau⁵³⁻⁵⁵ sai⁵³⁻⁵⁵ t͡sun²⁴ hiam²⁴⁻³³ kʰe⁴⁴ eʔ⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /be²²⁻²¹ hiau⁵³⁻⁴⁴ sai⁵³⁻⁴⁴ t͡sun¹³ hiam¹³⁻²² kʰe⁴⁴ eʔ¹²¹/

Idiom

𣍐曉駛船嫌溪狹

1. (Hokkien) to always blame others upon failure rather than reflecting on oneself; a bad workman always blames his tools

Synonyms

• (Hokkien) 𣍐曉駛船嫌溪彎／𫧃晓驶船嫌溪弯

References

• “𣍐曉駛船嫌溪狹”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2025.