鐵樹開花

Chinese

		Cycas revoluta, the king sago palm	to blossom; to bloom; to flower to blossom; to bloom; to flower; to burst; to split open; to break open
trad. (鐵樹開花)		鐵樹	開花
simp. (铁树开花)		铁树	开花
Literally: “king sago palm blossoms”.

Etymology

From the fact that king sago palm rarely blossoms, which is especially true if the plant was cultivated outside of tropical areas.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): tiě shùkāi huā

  (Zhuyin): ㄊㄧㄝˇ ㄕㄨˋ ㄎㄞ ㄏㄨㄚ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): tit³ syu⁶ hoi¹ faa¹

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: tiě shùkāi huā
    • Zhuyin: ㄊㄧㄝˇ ㄕㄨˋ ㄎㄞ ㄏㄨㄚ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: tiě shùkai hua
    • Wade–Giles: tʻieh³ shu⁴-kʻai¹ hua¹
    • Yale: tyě shù-kāi hwā
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tiee shuhkai hua
    • Palladius: те шукай хуа (te šukaj xua)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰi̯ɛ²¹⁴⁻²¹ ʂu⁵¹ kʰaɪ̯⁵⁵ xu̯ä⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: tit³ syu⁶ hoi¹ faa¹
    • Yale: tit syuh hōi fā
    • Cantonese Pinyin: tit⁸ sy⁶ hoi¹ faa¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: tid³ xu⁶ hoi¹ fa¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰiːt̚³ syː²² hɔːi̯⁵⁵ faː⁵⁵/

Idiom

鐵樹開花

1. extremely rare or hard to succeed