牛唔飲水唔撳得牛頭低 (ngau4 m4 jam2 seoi2 m4 gam6 dak1 ngau4 tau4 dai1 | ) : you cannot force sb to do sth against their will

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牛唔飲水唔撳得牛頭低

ngau4 m4 jam2 seoi2 m4 gam6 dak1 ngau4 tau4 dai1

you cannot force someone to do something against their will;
you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink
[literal] if a cow doesn't want to drink, you can't force its head down

[variant forms] 牛唔飲水唔㩒得牛頭低, 牛唔飲水點撳得牛頭低

Level: 3
This term is used in Cantonese, not Mandarin/Standard written Chinese. 粵

牛唔飲水唔撳得牛頭低 / 牛唔饮水唔揿得牛头低

This word has been viewed 8299 times since 30th Oct 2012, was added by WANNABEAFREAK on 21st Mar 2007 16:13 and last edited on 1st Jan 2012 02:38

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Characters in this word:

牛 ngau4 - cow; ox; cattle
唔 m4 - not; no
飲 jam2 - drink
水 seoi2 - water; liquid; dough (money)
唔 m4 - not; no
撳 gam6 - press with the hand; push with the hand
得 dak1 - get; obtain; fit; finished; able to; must
牛 ngau4 - cow; ox; cattle
頭 tau4 - head; first; chief
低 dai1 - lower, bend; low

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Decimal representation of this word: 牛唔飲水唔撳得牛頭低

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