偷雞唔到蝕揸米
简 偷鸡唔到食揸米 · 繁 偷雞唔到蝕揸米Meanings
- to go out for wool and come home shorn; to expend effort trying to gain a profit and end up with nothing but losses
About these definitions
Source definition segments, in their original order. Characters a definition cites are shown without their Mandarin pinyin; classifier lists that CC-Canto copied from CC-CEDICT are marked Mandarin. The community dictionary is not independently verified by zimai.
Reading & tones
Schematic citation-tone diagrams from the source numbers. These are not recordings or predictions of connected speech.
Tone and syllable differences from Unihan
- 到 is read dou2 here; Unihan’s citation reading is dou3. Same syllable, different tone across these source readings.
- 蝕 has the reading sit6 here; Unihan’s citation reading is sik6. Different syllable across these source readings. CC-Canto also lists 蝕 sit6 as its own entry.
Computed by zimai: each syllable of the CC-Canto word reading is compared with Unihan 17.0.0 kCantonese for its character. The comparison does not say why a reading differs (a changed tone, 變音, a reading tied to one meaning, or a source variant).
Same syllable, six tones
Characters whose customary Unihan reading (kCantonese) is this syllable in each tone, chosen as in the tone atlas (2013 standard level, then the number of CC-CEDICT words they form), with CC-Canto 2017's meaning for that reading; a dash means no catalogue character has that reading. Checked syllables (-p, -t, -k) normally carry tones 1, 3 and 6. Character readings, not word readings; no frequency implied.
Written characters
Both source spellings are represented. Written membership is not an etymological or semantic claim.
Mandarin comparison · separate source entries
CC-Canto includes this pinyin reference: tou1 ji1 n2 dao4 shi2 zha1 mi3. It does not establish a Mandarin word with the same meaning.
Look up this spelling in the Mandarin dictionary ↗Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
tau1 gai1 m4 dou2 sit6 zaa1 mai5
Cantonese word readings for 偷雞唔到蝕揸米. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.
CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack
Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section
Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.
phrase
- (Cantonese) to try to gain an advantage, only to end up worse off and suffer losses
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack