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牛頭唔搭馬嘴

简牛头唔搭马嘴 · 繁牛頭唔搭馬嘴

Cantonese · source Jyutpingngau4 tau4 m4 daap3 maa5 zeoi2

(Metaphor) in a situation when people are talking, someone speaks
replies with irrelevant speeches. It implies that someone speaks with nonsense.

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.

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Reading & tones

ngau44 · low fallingtau44 · low fallingm44 · low fallingdaap33 · mid levelchecked · -pmaa55 · low risingzeoi22 · high rising

Schematic citation-tone diagrams from the source numbers. These are not recordings or predictions of connected speech.

Same syllable, six tones

ngau勾ngau1to hookngau2—ngau3—牛ngau4ox 偶ngau5accidentalngau6—

tau偷tau1to stealtau2—透tau3to penetrate 头tau4headtau5—tau6—

mm1—呣m2m3—唔m4notm5—m6—

daapdaap1—daap2—搭daap3to put updaap4—daap5—踏daap6to tread

maa妈maa1mommaa2—吗maa3final interrogative particle 蟆maa4toad / frog 马maa5horse 骂maa6to scold

zeoi追zeoi1to chase after 嘴zeoi2mouth 最zeoi3mostzeoi4—zeoi5—罪zeoi6guilt

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.

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Written characters

牛頭唔搭馬嘴头马

Both source spellings are represented. Written membership is not an etymological or semantic claim.

Cantonese characters and the Mandarin bridge ↗

Mandarin comparison · separate source entries

CC-Canto includes this pinyin reference: niu2 tou2 m2 da1 ma3 zui3. 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

ngau4 tau4 m4 daap3 maa5 zeoi2

Cantonese word readings for 牛頭唔搭馬嘴. 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) the answer is totally irrelevant to the question; a square peg cannot fit into a round hole; to be beside the point

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

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