生吞活剝

Chinese

		to be born; to give birth; life to be born; to give birth; life; to grow; student; raw	to swallow; to take	to live; alive; living to live; alive; living; work; workmanship	peel; to skin
trad. (生吞活剝)		生	吞	活	剝
simp. (生吞活剥)		生	吞	活	剥

Etymology

From 《大唐新語》, edited by Liu Su in the early 9th century.

有棗強尉張懷慶，好偷名士文章…人謂之諺曰：「活剝王昌齡，生吞郭正一。」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

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有枣强尉张怀庆，好偷名士文章…人谓之谚曰：「活剥王昌龄，生吞郭正一。」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: a. 820, Liu Su (劉肅), 《大唐新語》

Yǒu Zǎoqiáng wèi Zhāng Huáiqìng, hào tōu míngshì wénzhāng... Rén wèi zhī yàn yuē: “Huó bō Wáng Chānglíng, shēng tūn Guō Zhèngyī.” [Pinyin]

There was an officer by the name Zhang Huaiqing in Zaoqiang, who was prone to plagiarizing famous authors... Referring to him, an idiom says "to flay Wang Changling alive and swallow Guo Zhengyi raw."

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): shēngtūnhuóbō

  (Zhuyin): ㄕㄥ ㄊㄨㄣ ㄏㄨㄛˊ ㄅㄛ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): sang¹ tan¹ wut⁶ mok¹

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: shēngtūnhuóbō
    • Zhuyin: ㄕㄥ ㄊㄨㄣ ㄏㄨㄛˊ ㄅㄛ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: shengtunhuóbo
    • Wade–Giles: shêng¹-tʻun¹-huo²-po¹
    • Yale: shēng-twūn-hwó-bwō
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shengtuenhwobo
    • Palladius: шэнтуньхобо (šɛntunʹxobo)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʂɤŋ⁵⁵ tʰu̯ən⁵⁵ xu̯ɔ³⁵ pu̯ɔ⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: sang¹ tan¹ wut⁶ mok¹
    • Yale: sāng tān wuht mōk
    • Cantonese Pinyin: sang¹ tan¹ wut⁹ mok⁷
    • Guangdong Romanization: seng¹ ten¹ wud⁶ mog¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sɐŋ⁵⁵ tʰɐn⁵⁵ wuːt̚² mɔːk̚⁵/

Idiom

生吞活剝

1. to skin and eat … alive
2. (figuratively) to apply uncritically; to use without real understanding