死馬當活馬醫

Chinese

		to die; impassable; uncrossable to die; impassable; uncrossable; inflexible; rigid	horse; surname	to act as; represent; equal to act as; represent; equal; should; fitting; suitable; adequate; proper; replace; to be; to hold a position; manage; withstand; when; during; ought; match equally; same; obstruct; just at (a time or place); on the spot; right; just at	to live; alive; living to live; alive; living; work; workmanship	horse; surname	medical; medicine; doctor medical; medicine; doctor; to cure; to treat
trad. (死馬當活馬醫)		死	馬	當	活	馬	醫
simp. (死马当活马医)		死	马	当	活	马	医
Literally: “to medically treat a dead horse as a living horse”.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): sǐmǎ dàng huómǎ yī

  (Zhuyin): ㄙˇ ㄇㄚˇ ㄉㄤˋ ㄏㄨㄛˊ ㄇㄚˇ ㄧ

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: sǐmǎ dàng huómǎ yī [Phonetic: símǎdànghuómǎyī]
    • Zhuyin: ㄙˇ ㄇㄚˇ ㄉㄤˋ ㄏㄨㄛˊ ㄇㄚˇ ㄧ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: sǐhmǎ dàng huómǎ yi
    • Wade–Giles: ssŭ³-ma³ tang⁴ huo²-ma³ i¹
    • Yale: sž-mǎ dàng hwó-mǎ yī
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: syymaa danq hwomaa i
    • Palladius: сыма дан хома и (syma dan xoma i)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sz̩²¹⁴⁻³⁵ mä²¹⁴⁻²¹ tɑŋ⁵¹ xu̯ɔ³⁵ mä²¹⁴⁻²¹ i⁵⁵/

Idiom

死馬當活馬醫

1. to keep trying everything in a desperate situation; to resort to desperate measures in desperate times

Synonyms

• 死馬當作活馬醫／死马当作活马医 (sǐmǎ dàngzuò huómǎ yī)