呆若木雞

Chinese

		foolish; stupid; no expression foolish; stupid; no expression; stay	to seem; like; as to seem; like; as; if	tree; wood	fowl; chicken
trad. (呆若木雞)		呆	若	木	雞
simp. (呆若木鸡)		呆	若	木	鸡
Literally: “dumb as a wooden chicken”.

Etymology

From Zhuangzi:

望之似木雞，其德全矣。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

望之似木鸡，其德全矣。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: Zhuangzi, circa 3^rd – 2^nd centuries BCE

Wàng zhī sì mù jī, qí dé quán yǐ. [Pinyin]

To look at him, you would say he was a cock of wood. His quality is complete.

In the past, this term was describing the quality of being able to stay calm.

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): dāiruòmùjī

(Zhuyin): ㄉㄞㄖㄨㄛˋ ㄇㄨˋ ㄐㄧ
Cantonese (Jyutping): ngoi⁴ joek⁶ muk⁶ gai¹

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: dāiruòmùjī
  - Zhuyin: ㄉㄞㄖㄨㄛˋ ㄇㄨˋ ㄐㄧ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: dairuòmùji
  - Wade–Giles: tai¹-jo⁴-mu⁴-chi¹
  - Yale: dāi-rwò-mù-jī
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: dairuohmuhji
  - Palladius: дайжомуцзи (dajžomuczi)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /taɪ̯⁵⁵ ʐwɔ⁵¹⁻⁵³ mu⁵¹ t͡ɕi⁵⁵/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: ngoi⁴ joek⁶ muk⁶ gai¹
  - Yale: ngòih yeuhk muhk gāi
  - Cantonese Pinyin: ngoi⁴ joek⁹ muk⁹ gai¹
  - Guangdong Romanization: ngoi⁴ yêg⁶ mug⁶ gei¹
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ŋɔːi̯²¹ jœːk̚² mʊk̚² kɐi̯⁵⁵/

Idiom

呆若木雞

dumbstruck

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