DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

吃啞巴虧

简吃哑巴亏 · 繁吃啞巴虧

Mandarin · pinyin chī yǎ ba kuī

to be forced to suffer in silence
unable to speak of one's bitter suffering

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

吃: chī · eat; drink; suffer, endure, bear
啞: Look up this written character
巴: bā · greatly desire, anxiously hope
虧: Look up this written character
哑: yǎ · dumb, mute; become hoarse
亏: kuī · lose, fail; damage; deficient

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

1–3–5–1 · chi1 ya3 ba5 kui1

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

4character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

吃啞巴虧 · find source passages ↗ · 吃哑巴亏 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

verb

(figurative, idiomatic) to be unable to speak out about one’s grievances

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack