啞巴吃黃連,有苦說不出

简 哑巴吃黄连,有苦说不出 · 繁 啞巴吃黃連,有苦說不出
Mandarin · pinyin yǎ ba chī huáng lián , yǒu kǔ shuō bu chū

Meanings

  1. to be forced to suffer in silence (idiom)
  2. unable to speak of one's bitter suffering
  3. sometimes written 啞子吃黃連,有苦說不出
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Characters in this entry

啞
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巴
bā · greatly desire, anxiously hope
吃
chī · eat; drink; suffer, endure, bear
黃
huáng · yellow; surname; Kangxi radical 201
連
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有
yǒu · have, own, possess; exist
苦
kǔ · bitter; hardship, suffering
說
shuō · speak, say, talk; scold, upbraid
不
bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
出
chū · go out, send out; stand; produce
哑
yǎ · dumb, mute; become hoarse
黄
huáng · yellow; surname
连
lián · join, connect; continuous; even
说
shuō · speak, say, talk; scold, upbraid
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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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.

啞巴吃黃連,有苦說不出 · find source passages ↗ · 哑巴吃黄连,有苦说不出 · find source passages ↗

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啞巴吃黃連,有苦說不出 · ya3 ba5 chi1 huang2 lian2 , you3 ku3 shuo1 bu5 chu1
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 22,332
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record啞巴吃黃連,有苦說不出 哑巴吃黄连,有苦说不出 [ya3 ba5 chi1 huang2 lian2 , you3 ku3 shuo1 bu5 chu1] /to be forced to suffer in silence (idiom)/unable to speak of one's bitter suffering/sometimes written 啞子吃黃連,有苦說不出|哑子吃黄连,有苦说不出/