CANTONESE ↔ ENGLISH · CC-CANTO

踏破鐵鞋無覓處

简踏破铁鞋无觅处 · 繁踏破鐵鞋無覓處

Cantonese · source Jyutpingdaap6 po3 tit3 haai4 mou4 mik6 cyu3

to describe something that is nowhere to be found even after painstakingly exhausting all of one's energy and effort to look for it

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

daap66 · low levelchecked · -ppo33 · mid leveltit33 · mid levelchecked · -thaai44 · low fallingmou44 · low fallingmik66 · low levelchecked · -kcyu33 · mid level

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

Same syllable, six tones

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

po坡po1slope 颇po2rather 破po3broken 婆po4grandmotherpo5—po6—

tittit1—tit2—铁tit3not knowledgeabletit4—tit5—tit6—

haai揩haai1to get handsy on a femalehaai2—haai3—鞋haai4shoe 蟹haai5crab 懈haai6lax

moumou1—mou2—mou3—无mou4not to have 武mou5martial 务mou6affair

mikmik1—mik2—mik3—mik4—mik5—觅mik6

cyucyu1—cyu2—处cyu3place 厨cyu4kitchen 柱cyu5pillarcyu6—

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

踏破鐵鞋無覓處铁无觅处

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: ta4 po4 tie3 xie2 wu2 mi4 chu4. 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 · 2 Cantonese readings

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

daap6 po3 tit3 haai4 mou4 mik6 cyu3 · daap6 po3 tit3 haai4 mou4 mik6 cyu5

Cantonese word readings for 踏破鐵鞋無覓處. 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

(xiehouyu) One will search high and low only to find it when one least expects to.

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

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