老牛食嫩草
Chinese
old; aged; venerable old; aged; venerable; outdated; experienced; (affectionate prefix) |
ox; cow; bull | eat; food; to feed eat; food; to feed; animal feed |
tender; soft | grass; straw; draft (of a document) grass; straw; draft (of a document); careless; rough; manuscript; hasty | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| trad. (老牛食嫩草) | 老 | 牛 | 食 | 嫩 | 草 | |
| simp. #(老牛食嫩草) | 老 | 牛 | 食 | 嫩 | 草 | |
| Literally: “old cow eating young grass”. | ||||||
Pronunciation
- Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)+
- Jyutping: lou5 ngau4 sik6 nyun6 cou2
- Yale: lóuh ngàuh sihk nyuhn chóu
- Cantonese Pinyin: lou5 ngau4 sik9 nyn6 tsou2
- Guangdong Romanization: lou5 ngeo4 xig6 nün6 cou2
- Sinological IPA (key): /lou̯¹³ ŋɐu̯²¹ sɪk̚² nyːn²² t͡sʰou̯³⁵/
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)+
- Hakka
- (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
- Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: ló ngiù sṳ̍t nun chhó
- Hakka Romanization System: loˋ ngiuˇ siid nun coˋ
- Hagfa Pinyim: lo3 ngiu2 sid6 nun4 co3
- Sinological IPA: /lo³¹ ŋi̯u¹¹ sɨt̚⁵ nun⁵⁵ t͡sʰo³¹/
- (Hailu, incl. Zhudong)
- Hakka Romanization System: loˊ ngiu shidˋ nun˖ coˊ
- Sinological IPA: /lo²⁴⁻³³ ŋiu⁵⁵ ʃit² nun³³ t͡sʰo²⁴/
- (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
Idiom
老牛食嫩草
- (Cantonese, Hakka) May-December relationship; to rob the cradle; a romance where one partner is significantly older than the other
Synonyms
Dialectal synonyms of 老牛吃嫩草 (“to rob the cradle”) [map]
| Variety | Location | Words |
|---|---|---|
| Formal (Written Standard Chinese) | 老牛吃嫩草 | |
| Northeastern Mandarin | Taiwan | 老牛吃嫩草 |
| Harbin | 老來啃青 | |
| Cantonese | Hong Kong | 老牛食嫩草 |
| Hakka | Miaoli (N. Sixian) | 老牛食嫩草 |
| Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian) | 老牛食嫩草 | |
| Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu) | 老牛食嫩草 | |
| Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu) | 老牛食嫩草 | |
| Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping) | 老牛食嫩草 | |
| Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an) | 老牛食嫩草 | |
| Puxian Min | Putian | 老牛食幼筍 |
| Xianyou | 老牛食幼筍 | |
References
- “Entry #11760”, in 臺灣客語辭典 [Dictionary of Taiwan Hakka] (overall work in Chinese and Hakka), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2022.