駟馬難追

Chinese

		team of four horses	disaster; distress; to scold disaster; distress; to scold; difficult (to...); problem; difficulty; difficult; not good	pursue (a problem); to chase
trad. (駟馬難追)		駟馬	難	追
simp. (驷马难追)		驷马	难	追

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): sìmǎnánzhuī

  (Zhuyin): ㄙˋ ㄇㄚˇ ㄋㄢˊ ㄓㄨㄟ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): si³ maa⁵ naan⁴ zeoi¹
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): sù-má-lân-tui

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: sìmǎnánzhuī
    • Zhuyin: ㄙˋ ㄇㄚˇ ㄋㄢˊ ㄓㄨㄟ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: sìhmǎnánjhuei
    • Wade–Giles: ssŭ⁴-ma³-nan²-chui¹
    • Yale: sz̀-mǎ-nán-jwēi
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: syhmaananjuei
    • Palladius: сымананьчжуй (symananʹčžuj)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sz̩⁵¹ mä²¹⁴⁻²¹ nän³⁵ ʈ͡ʂu̯eɪ̯⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: si³ maa⁵ naan⁴ zeoi¹
    • Yale: si máh nàahn jēui
    • Cantonese Pinyin: si³ maa⁵ naan⁴ dzoey¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: xi³ ma⁵ nan⁴ zêu¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /siː³³ maː¹³ naːn²¹ t͡sɵy̯⁵⁵/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: sù-má-lân-tui
    • Tâi-lô: sù-má-lân-tui
    • Phofsit Daibuun: suomaflanduy
    • IPA (Taipei): /su¹¹⁻⁵³ mã⁵³ lan²⁴⁻¹¹ tui⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /su²¹⁻⁴¹ mã⁴¹ lan²³⁻³³ tui⁴⁴/

Idiom

駟馬難追

1. words cannot be taken back once they are spoken

Derived terms

• 一言既出，駟馬難追／一言既出，驷马难追 (yīyánjìchū, sìmǎnánzhuī)
• 君子一言，駟馬難追／君子一言，驷马难追 (jūnzǐ yīyán, sìmǎ nánzhuī)