三姓家奴

Chinese

		three	surname; family name; name	a house servant
trad. (三姓家奴)		三	姓	家奴
simp. #(三姓家奴)		三	姓	家奴
Literally: “house slave of three families”.

Etymology

From Romance of the Three Kingdoms (14th-century). Originally used to describe the character Lü Bu for his murder of his first adoptive father to please his second one.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): sānxìngjiānú

  (Zhuyin): ㄙㄢ ㄒㄧㄥˋ ㄐㄧㄚ ㄋㄨˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): saam¹ sing³ gaa¹ nou⁴

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: sānxìngjiānú
    • Zhuyin: ㄙㄢ ㄒㄧㄥˋ ㄐㄧㄚ ㄋㄨˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: sansìngjianú
    • Wade–Giles: san¹-hsing⁴-chia¹-nu²
    • Yale: sān-syìng-jyā-nú
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: sanshinqjianu
    • Palladius: саньсинцзяну (sanʹsinczjanu)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sän⁵⁵ ɕiŋ⁵¹ t͡ɕi̯ä⁵⁵ nu³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: saam¹ sing³ gaa¹ nou⁴
    • Yale: sāam sing gā nòuh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: saam¹ sing³ gaa¹ nou⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: sam¹ xing³ ga¹ nou⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /saːm⁵⁵ sɪŋ³³ kaː⁵⁵ nou̯²¹/

Noun

三姓家奴

1. turncoat, especially one that has switched the loyalty many times