虎頭蛇尾

See also: 虎头蛇尾

Chinese

		tiger	head; (noun suffix)	snake; serpent	tail
trad. (虎頭蛇尾)		虎	頭	蛇	尾
simp. (虎头蛇尾)		虎	头	蛇	尾
Literally: “tiger's head, but snake's tail”.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): hǔtóushéwěi

  (Zhuyin): ㄏㄨˇ ㄊㄡˊ ㄕㄜˊ ㄨㄟˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): fu² tau⁴ se⁴ mei⁵

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: hǔtóushéwěi
    • Zhuyin: ㄏㄨˇ ㄊㄡˊ ㄕㄜˊ ㄨㄟˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: hǔtóushéwěi
    • Wade–Giles: hu³-tʻou²-shê²-wei³
    • Yale: hǔ-tóu-shé-wěi
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: huutoursherwoei
    • Palladius: хутоушэвэй (xutoušɛvɛj)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /xu²¹⁴⁻²¹ tʰoʊ̯³⁵ ʂɤ³⁵ weɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: fu² tau⁴ se⁴ mei⁵
    • Yale: fú tàuh sèh méih
    • Cantonese Pinyin: fu² tau⁴ se⁴ mei⁵
    • Guangdong Romanization: fu² teo⁴ sé⁴ méi⁵
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /fuː³⁵ tʰɐu̯²¹ sɛː²¹ mei̯¹³/

Idiom

虎頭蛇尾

1. to start off strong, but finish weak; to be inconsistent with one's effort

Synonyms

• (Min Nan) 虎頭鳥鼠尾／虎头鸟鼠尾, 有頭無尾／有头无尾
• (Teochew) 虎頭鐵釘尾／虎头铁钉尾
• (Cantonese) 有頭威，冇尾陣／有头威，冇尾阵 (jau⁵ tau⁴ wai¹, mou⁵ mei⁵ zan⁶)

Antonyms

• 有始有終／有始有终 (yǒushǐyǒuzhōng)