See 畏首畏尾 in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
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"english": "There is an ancient saying, \"Fearing for the head and fearing for the tail, what of the body is one left with (not to fear for)?’ And there is another, ‘The deer driven to its death ignores whether it is screaming in its best voice.’",
"ref": " Commentary of Zuo, c. 4ᵗʰ century BCE",
"roman": "Gǔrén yǒu yán yuē: “Wèi shǒu wèi wěi, shēn qí yú jǐ?” Yòu yuē, “lù sǐ bù zé yīn.”",
"tags": [
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"Classical-Chinese",
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],
"text": "古人有言曰：“畏首畏尾，身其餘幾？”又曰，“鹿死不擇音。”",
"translation": "There is an ancient saying, \"Fearing for the head and fearing for the tail, what of the body is one left with (not to fear for)?’ And there is another, ‘The deer driven to its death ignores whether it is screaming in its best voice.’",
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"english": "There is an ancient saying, \"Fearing for the head and fearing for the tail, what of the body is one left with (not to fear for)?’ And there is another, ‘The deer driven to its death ignores whether it is screaming in its best voice.’",
"ref": " Commentary of Zuo, c. 4ᵗʰ century BCE",
"roman": "Gǔrén yǒu yán yuē: “Wèi shǒu wèi wěi, shēn qí yú jǐ?” Yòu yuē, “lù sǐ bù zé yīn.”",
"tags": [
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"Classical-Chinese",
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],
"text": "古人有言曰：“畏首畏尾，身其余几？”又曰，“鹿死不择音。”",
"translation": "There is an ancient saying, \"Fearing for the head and fearing for the tail, what of the body is one left with (not to fear for)?’ And there is another, ‘The deer driven to its death ignores whether it is screaming in its best voice.’",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"etymology_templates": [
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"etymology_text": "From The Commentary of Zuo, seventeenth year of Duke Wen of Lu, or 610 B.C.E.",
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"lang_code": "zh",
"literal_meaning": "to be afraid of the head, terrified of the tail",
"pos": "phrase",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
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"kind": "other",
"name": "Cantonese chengyu",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
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"glosses": [
"to be afraid of the slightest thing; ever fearful and nervous; to be full of misgivings; to be overcautious"
],
"id": "en-畏首畏尾-zh-phrase-yqPH3lAV",
"links": [
[
"slightest",
"slightest"
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[
"fearful",
"fearful"
],
[
"nervous",
"nervous"
],
[
"misgiving",
"misgiving"
],
[
"overcautious",
"overcautious"
]
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "畏頭畏尾"
},
{
"word": "畏头畏尾"
}
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
],
"wikipedia": [
"Commentary of Zuo",
"Duke Wen of Lu"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"tags": [
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],
"zh_pron": "wèishǒuwèiwěi"
},
{
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Bopomofo"
],
"zh_pron": "ㄨㄟˋ ㄕㄡˇ ㄨㄟˋ ㄨㄟˇ"
},
{
"tags": [
"Cantonese",
"Jyutping"
],
"zh_pron": "wai³ sau² wai³ mei⁵"
},
{
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Pinyin"
],
"zh_pron": "wèishǒuwèiwěi"
},
{
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Bopomofo"
],
"zh_pron": "ㄨㄟˋ ㄕㄡˇ ㄨㄟˋ ㄨㄟˇ"
},
{
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Tongyong-Pinyin"
],
"zh_pron": "wèishǒuwèiwěi"
},
{
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Wade-Giles"
],
"zh_pron": "wei⁴-shou³-wei⁴-wei³"
},
{
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Yale"
],
"zh_pron": "wèi-shǒu-wèi-wěi"
},
{
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Gwoyeu-Romatsyh"
],
"zh_pron": "weyshoouweywoei"
},
{
"roman": "vɛjšouvɛjvɛj",
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Palladius"
],
"zh_pron": "вэйшоувэйвэй"
},
{
"ipa": "/weɪ̯⁵¹ ʂoʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ weɪ̯⁵¹ weɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/",
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Sinological-IPA"
]
},
{
"raw_tags": [
"Standard-Cantonese",
"Hong Kong"
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"tags": [
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"Guangzhou",
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"zh_pron": "wai³ sau² wai³ mei⁵"
},
{
"raw_tags": [
"Standard-Cantonese",
"Hong Kong"
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"tags": [
"Cantonese",
"Guangzhou",
"Yale"
],
"zh_pron": "wai sáu wai méih"
},
{
"raw_tags": [
"Standard-Cantonese",
"Hong Kong"
],
"tags": [
"Cantonese",
"Guangzhou",
"Cantonese",
"Pinyin"
],
"zh_pron": "wai³ sau² wai³ mei⁵"
},
{
"raw_tags": [
"Standard-Cantonese",
"Hong Kong"
],
"tags": [
"Cantonese",
"Guangzhou",
"Guangdong-Romanization"
],
"zh_pron": "wei³ seo² wei³ méi⁵"
},
{
"ipa": "/wɐi̯³³ sɐu̯³⁵ wɐi̯³³ mei̯¹³/",
"raw_tags": [
"Standard-Cantonese",
"Hong Kong"
],
"tags": [
"Cantonese",
"Guangzhou",
"Sinological-IPA"
]
},
{
"tags": [
"Middle-Chinese"
],
"zh_pron": "'jw+jH syuwX 'jw+jH mj+jX"
},
{
"tags": [
"Old-Chinese",
"Baxter-Sagart"
],
"zh_pron": "/*ʔuj-s l̥uʔ ʔuj-s [m]əjʔ/"
},
{
"tags": [
"Old-Chinese",
"Zhengzhang"
],
"zh_pron": "/*quls hljuʔ quls mɯlʔ/"
}
],
"word": "畏首畏尾"
}
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"english": "There is an ancient saying, \"Fearing for the head and fearing for the tail, what of the body is one left with (not to fear for)?’ And there is another, ‘The deer driven to its death ignores whether it is screaming in its best voice.’",
"ref": " Commentary of Zuo, c. 4ᵗʰ century BCE",
"roman": "Gǔrén yǒu yán yuē: “Wèi shǒu wèi wěi, shēn qí yú jǐ?” Yòu yuē, “lù sǐ bù zé yīn.”",
"tags": [
"Pinyin",
"Classical-Chinese",
"Traditional-Chinese"
],
"text": "古人有言曰：“畏首畏尾，身其餘幾？”又曰，“鹿死不擇音。”",
"translation": "There is an ancient saying, \"Fearing for the head and fearing for the tail, what of the body is one left with (not to fear for)?’ And there is another, ‘The deer driven to its death ignores whether it is screaming in its best voice.’",
"type": "quote"
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"english": "There is an ancient saying, \"Fearing for the head and fearing for the tail, what of the body is one left with (not to fear for)?’ And there is another, ‘The deer driven to its death ignores whether it is screaming in its best voice.’",
"ref": " Commentary of Zuo, c. 4ᵗʰ century BCE",
"roman": "Gǔrén yǒu yán yuē: “Wèi shǒu wèi wěi, shēn qí yú jǐ?” Yòu yuē, “lù sǐ bù zé yīn.”",
"tags": [
"Pinyin",
"Classical-Chinese",
"Simplified-Chinese"
],
"text": "古人有言曰：“畏首畏尾，身其余几？”又曰，“鹿死不择音。”",
"translation": "There is an ancient saying, \"Fearing for the head and fearing for the tail, what of the body is one left with (not to fear for)?’ And there is another, ‘The deer driven to its death ignores whether it is screaming in its best voice.’",
"type": "quote"
}
],
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"lang_code": "zh",
"literal_meaning": "to be afraid of the head, terrified of the tail",
"pos": "phrase",
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"Chinese idioms",
"Chinese lemmas",
"Chinese terms spelled with 尾",
"Chinese terms spelled with 畏",
"Chinese terms spelled with 首",
"Chinese terms with IPA pronunciation",
"Mandarin chengyu",
"Mandarin idioms",
"Mandarin lemmas",
"Middle Chinese chengyu",
"Middle Chinese idioms",
"Middle Chinese lemmas",
"Old Chinese chengyu",
"Old Chinese idioms",
"Old Chinese lemmas",
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],
"glosses": [
"to be afraid of the slightest thing; ever fearful and nervous; to be full of misgivings; to be overcautious"
],
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[
"slightest",
"slightest"
],
[
"fearful",
"fearful"
],
[
"nervous",
"nervous"
],
[
"misgiving",
"misgiving"
],
[
"overcautious",
"overcautious"
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],
"zh_pron": "wèishǒuwèiwěi"
},
{
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Bopomofo"
],
"zh_pron": "ㄨㄟˋ ㄕㄡˇ ㄨㄟˋ ㄨㄟˇ"
},
{
"tags": [
"Cantonese",
"Jyutping"
],
"zh_pron": "wai³ sau² wai³ mei⁵"
},
{
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Pinyin"
],
"zh_pron": "wèishǒuwèiwěi"
},
{
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Bopomofo"
],
"zh_pron": "ㄨㄟˋ ㄕㄡˇ ㄨㄟˋ ㄨㄟˇ"
},
{
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Tongyong-Pinyin"
],
"zh_pron": "wèishǒuwèiwěi"
},
{
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Wade-Giles"
],
"zh_pron": "wei⁴-shou³-wei⁴-wei³"
},
{
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Yale"
],
"zh_pron": "wèi-shǒu-wèi-wěi"
},
{
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Gwoyeu-Romatsyh"
],
"zh_pron": "weyshoouweywoei"
},
{
"roman": "vɛjšouvɛjvɛj",
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Palladius"
],
"zh_pron": "вэйшоувэйвэй"
},
{
"ipa": "/weɪ̯⁵¹ ʂoʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ weɪ̯⁵¹ weɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/",
"tags": [
"Mandarin",
"Standard-Chinese",
"Sinological-IPA"
]
},
{
"raw_tags": [
"Standard-Cantonese",
"Hong Kong"
],
"tags": [
"Cantonese",
"Guangzhou",
"Jyutping"
],
"zh_pron": "wai³ sau² wai³ mei⁵"
},
{
"raw_tags": [
"Standard-Cantonese",
"Hong Kong"
],
"tags": [
"Cantonese",
"Guangzhou",
"Yale"
],
"zh_pron": "wai sáu wai méih"
},
{
"raw_tags": [
"Standard-Cantonese",
"Hong Kong"
],
"tags": [
"Cantonese",
"Guangzhou",
"Cantonese",
"Pinyin"
],
"zh_pron": "wai³ sau² wai³ mei⁵"
},
{
"raw_tags": [
"Standard-Cantonese",
"Hong Kong"
],
"tags": [
"Cantonese",
"Guangzhou",
"Guangdong-Romanization"
],
"zh_pron": "wei³ seo² wei³ méi⁵"
},
{
"ipa": "/wɐi̯³³ sɐu̯³⁵ wɐi̯³³ mei̯¹³/",
"raw_tags": [
"Standard-Cantonese",
"Hong Kong"
],
"tags": [
"Cantonese",
"Guangzhou",
"Sinological-IPA"
]
},
{
"tags": [
"Middle-Chinese"
],
"zh_pron": "'jw+jH syuwX 'jw+jH mj+jX"
},
{
"tags": [
"Old-Chinese",
"Baxter-Sagart"
],
"zh_pron": "/*ʔuj-s l̥uʔ ʔuj-s [m]əjʔ/"
},
{
"tags": [
"Old-Chinese",
"Zhengzhang"
],
"zh_pron": "/*quls hljuʔ quls mɯlʔ/"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "畏頭畏尾"
},
{
"word": "畏头畏尾"
}
],
"word": "畏首畏尾"
}
Download raw JSONL data for 畏首畏尾 meaning in Chinese (5.4kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable Chinese dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-10-23 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-10-21 using wiktextract (da1f971 and f26afeb). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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