矮子裡拔將軍

Chinese

		short person; dwarf	inside; within; in inside; within; in; lining of clothing	pull up; pull out; select pull up; pull out; select; promote	general; sulfur
trad. (矮子裡拔將軍/矮子裏拔將軍)		矮子	裡/裏	拔	將軍
simp. (矮子里拔将军)		矮子	里	拔	将军
Literally: “to pick a general from among the dwarfs”.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): ǎizi lǐ bá jiāngjūn

  (Zhuyin): ㄞˇ ˙ㄗ ㄌㄧˇ ㄅㄚˊ ㄐㄧㄤ ㄐㄩㄣ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): ai² zi² leoi⁵ bat⁶ zoeng¹ gwan¹

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: ǎizi lǐ bá jiāngjūn → ǎizi lǐ bá jiāngjun (toneless final syllable variant)
    • Zhuyin: ㄞˇ ˙ㄗ ㄌㄧˇ ㄅㄚˊ ㄐㄧㄤ ㄐㄩㄣ → ㄞˇ ˙ㄗ ㄌㄧˇ ㄅㄚˊ ㄐㄧㄤ ˙ㄐㄩㄣ (toneless final syllable variant)
    • Tongyong Pinyin: ǎizi̊h lǐ bá jiangjyůn
    • Wade–Giles: ai³-tzŭ⁵ li³ pa² chiang¹-chün⁵
    • Yale: ǎi-dz lǐ bá jyāng-jyun
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: ae.tzyy lii bar jiang.jiun
    • Palladius: айцзы ли ба цзянцзюнь (ajczy li ba czjanczjunʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ˀaɪ̯²¹⁴ d͡z̥z̩⁴ li²¹⁴⁻²¹ pä³⁵ t͡ɕi̯ɑŋ⁵⁵ t͡ɕyn⁵⁵/ → /ˀaɪ̯²¹⁴ d͡z̥z̩⁴ li²¹⁴⁻²¹ pä³⁵ t͡ɕi̯ɑŋ⁵⁵ d͡ʑ̥yn²/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: ai² zi² leoi⁵ bat⁶ zoeng¹ gwan¹
    • Yale: ái jí léuih baht jēung gwān
    • Cantonese Pinyin: ai² dzi² loey⁵ bat⁹ dzoeng¹ gwan¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: ei² ji² lêu⁵ bed⁶ zêng¹ guen¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɐi̯³⁵ t͡siː³⁵ lɵy̯¹³ pɐt̚² t͡sœːŋ⁵⁵ kʷɐn⁵⁵/

Idiom

矮子裡拔將軍

1. (figuratively) to choose the best one among people which are not good

Synonyms

• (Wu) 矮子裡向拔長子／矮子里向拔长子