鳥喙

鳥喙

1. (literary, literal) beak; bill (structure projecting from a bird's face)

   • 范蠡遂去，自齊遺大夫種書曰：「蜚鳥盡，良弓藏；狡兔死，走狗烹。越王為人長頸鳥喙，可與共患難，不可與共樂。子何不去？」 [Traditional Chinese poetry, trad.]
     范蠡遂去，自齐遗大夫种书曰：「蜚鸟尽，良弓藏；狡兔死，走狗烹。越王为人长颈鸟喙，可与共患难，不可与共乐。子何不去？」 [Traditional Chinese poetry, simp.]

     From: The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE

     Fàn Lǐ suì qù, zì Qí wèi dàfū Zhǒng shū yuē: “Fēiniǎo jìn, liánggōng cáng; jiǎotù sǐ, zǒugǒu pēng. Yuèwáng wéi rén chángjǐng niǎohuì, kě yǔ gòng huànnán, bùkě yǔ gòng yuè. Zǐ hébù qù?” [Pinyin]

     Fan Li then left; from Qi he sent Senior Officer (Wen) Zhong a letter, which read: ‘When flying birds are all gone, good bows are stored; when cunning hares are all dead, running hounds are boiled. The long-necked, bird-mouthed King of Yue is a man whom one can share woes with, not weal. Why won't ye leave?’

2. (Philippine Hokkien, figurative) blabbermouth; gossiper; gossipmonger

• (beak): 鳥嘴／鸟嘴 (niǎozuǐ); (Hakka) 嘴胛

• 嚼 (jiáo)

• 莆田市政协文化文史和学习委员会 [Culture, History and Learning Committee of Putian CPPCC], editor (2021), “鸟喙”, in 莆仙方言大词典 [Comprehensive Dictionary of Puxian Dialect] (overall work in Mandarin and Puxian Min), Xiamen University Press, →ISBN, page 583.