Home
CantoDict HomeCantoDict Settings

Remove Adverts and gain lots of extra features
What is this page showing me?

牛嚼牡丹
  ngau4 ziu6 maau5 daan1   jyutping
unappreciative of sth worthwhile; oblivious to the worth of sth; lacking a refined sensibility; not knowing chalk from cheese; to cast pearls before swine; to be undiscriminating
[lit] a cow chewing on peony

This is the first part of a 歇後語 that has 唔知 as the second part. When a cow chews on peony, it does not know whether it is flower or grass, not knowing what the taste is. This literal meaning has been extended to "unappreciative of sth worthwhile".
Idiom

Level: 4
This term is used in Cantonese, not Mandarin/Standard written Chinese.
牛嚼牡丹

This word has been viewed 3233 times since 30th Oct 2012, was added by WANNABEAFREAK on 19th May 2009 16:28 and last edited on 20th May 2009 03:48
Output this word as a high resolution image
Add to vocab list:

Sponsors: One-on-One Online Chinese Tutoring | Mandarin | Learn Spanish
Studying in China | Learn Chinese in China | Learn Mandarin in China | Chinese School | Chinese Lessons in the UK

Characters in this word:

 ngau4  -  cow; ox; cattle
 zoek3 ziu6 zeu6  -  chew, munch
 maau5  -  male of animals
 daan1  -  vermilion; red; pellet; pill
This page shows, from top to bottom:
Script executed in 0.059785 secs
Rows returned from database=5
Donate to CantoDict
CantoDict v1.4.2 is a collaborative Chinese Dictionary project started in November 2003. Entries are added and mistakes corrected by a team of kind volunteers from around the world.
Copyright Adam Sheik 2003-2024.