無魚，蝦嘛好
Chinese
| not have | fish | shrimp; prawn | (a modal particle) | good; well; be fond of | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| trad. (無魚，蝦嘛好) | 無 | 魚 | ， | 蝦 | 嘛 | 好 | |
| simp. (无鱼，虾嘛好) | 无 | 鱼 | ， | 虾 | 嘛 | 好 | |
| Literally: “If there is no fish, shrimp is also good”. | |||||||
Pronunciation
- Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): bô hî, hê mā hó / bô hîr, hê mā hó
- Southern Min
- (Hokkien: General Taiwanese, Singapore)
- Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bô hî, hê mā hó
- Tâi-lô: bô hî, hê mā hó
- IPA (Singapore): /bo²⁴⁻²¹ hi²⁴ he²⁴ ma²²⁻²¹ ho⁴²/
- IPA (Kaohsiung): /bɤ²³⁻³³ hi²³ he²³ mã³³⁻²¹ hɤ⁴¹/
- (Hokkien: Singapore)
- Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bô hîr, hê mā hó
- Tâi-lô: bô hîr, hê mā hó
- IPA (Singapore): /bo²⁴⁻²¹ hɯ²⁴ he²⁴ ma²²⁻²¹ ho⁴²/
- (Hokkien: General Taiwanese, Singapore)
Proverb
無魚，蝦嘛好
- (Hokkien) it is alright to settle for something less; it is better to have something than have nothing