食尾牙面憂憂，食頭牙撚喙鬚
Chinese
eat; food; to feed eat; food; to feed; animal feed |
last dinner party held by employer before Chinese New Year | face; side; surface face; side; surface; aspect; top |
worried | worried | eat; food; to feed eat; food; to feed; animal feed |
first dinner party held by employer after Chinese New Year | twirl (in the fingers) | beard | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| trad. (食尾牙面憂憂，食頭牙撚喙鬚) | 食 | 尾牙 | 面 | 憂 | 憂 | ， | 食 | 頭牙 | 撚 | 喙鬚 | |
| simp. (食尾牙面忧忧，食头牙撚喙须) | 食 | 尾牙 | 面 | 忧 | 忧 | ， | 食 | 头牙 | 撚 | 喙须 | |
| Literally: “worried when having last dinner with employer before Chinese New Year, but touching beard calmly when having the first dinner with employer after Chinese New Year”. | |||||||||||
Pronunciation
- Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): chia̍h bé-gê bīn iu-iu, chia̍h thâu-gê lián chhùi-chhiu / chia̍h bóe-gê bīn iu-iu, chia̍h thâu-gê lián chhùi-chhiu
- Southern Min
- (Hokkien: Taipei)
- Pe̍h-ōe-jī: chia̍h bé-gê bīn iu-iu, chia̍h thâu-gê lián chhùi-chhiu
- Tâi-lô: tsia̍h bé-gê bīn iu-iu, tsia̍h thâu-gê lián tshuì-tshiu
- IPA (Taipei): /t͡sia(ʔ)⁴⁻¹¹ be⁵³⁻⁴⁴ ɡe²⁴ bin³³⁻¹¹ iu⁴⁴⁻³³ iu⁴⁴ t͡sia(ʔ)⁴⁻¹¹ tʰau²⁴⁻¹¹ ɡe²⁴ liɛn⁵³⁻⁴⁴ t͡sʰui¹¹⁻⁵³ t͡sʰiu⁴⁴/
- (Hokkien: Kaohsiung)
- Pe̍h-ōe-jī: chia̍h bóe-gê bīn iu-iu, chia̍h thâu-gê lián chhùi-chhiu
- Tâi-lô: tsia̍h bué-gê bīn iu-iu, tsia̍h thâu-gê lián tshuì-tshiu
- IPA (Kaohsiung): /t͡sia(ʔ)⁴⁻²¹ bue⁴¹⁻⁴⁴ ɡe²³ bin³³⁻²¹ iu⁴⁴⁻³³ iu⁴⁴ t͡sia(ʔ)⁴⁻²¹ tʰau²³⁻³³ ɡe²³ liɛn⁴¹⁻⁴⁴ t͡sʰui²¹⁻⁴¹ t͡sʰiu⁴⁴/
- (Hokkien: Taipei)
Proverb
食尾牙面憂憂，食頭牙撚喙鬚
- (Southern Min) Employees are more prone to dismissal before than after Chinese New Year.
See also
References
“食尾牙面憂憂，食頭牙撚喙鬚”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2025.