聞雞起舞

See also: 闻鸡起舞

Chinese

		hear; news; celebrated hear; news; celebrated; sniff at	fowl; chicken	to begin dancing
trad. (聞雞起舞/聞鷄起舞)		聞	雞/鷄	起舞
simp. (闻鸡起舞)		闻	鸡	起舞
Literally: “to get up and do sword practice upon hearing the rooster’s crow”.

Etymology

Based on a story in Zu Ti (祖逖)'s biography in the Book of Jin [648 CE], in which Zu Ti would get up with the sound of the roosters in order to practice his martial arts.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): wénjīqǐwǔ

  (Zhuyin): ㄨㄣˊ ㄐㄧ ㄑㄧˇ ㄨˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): man⁴ gai¹ hei² mou⁵

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: wénjīqǐwǔ [Phonetic: wénjīqíwǔ]
    • Zhuyin: ㄨㄣˊ ㄐㄧ ㄑㄧˇ ㄨˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: wúnjicǐwǔ
    • Wade–Giles: wên²-chi¹-chʻi³-wu³
    • Yale: wén-jī-chǐ-wǔ
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: wenjichiiwuu
    • Palladius: вэньцзициу (vɛnʹcziciu)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /wən³⁵ t͡ɕi⁵⁵ t͡ɕʰi²¹⁴⁻³⁵ u²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: man⁴ gai¹ hei² mou⁵
    • Yale: màhn gāi héi móuh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: man⁴ gai¹ hei² mou⁵
    • Guangdong Romanization: men⁴ gei¹ héi² mou⁵
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mɐn²¹ kɐi̯⁵⁵ hei̯³⁵ mou̯¹³/

Idiom

聞雞起舞

1. to be a go-getter; to be a self-starter