食之無味，棄之可惜

Chinese
 
eat; food; to feed
eat; food; to feed; animal feed
 's; him/her/it; this
 
tasteless; having no flavour; dull
tasteless; having no flavour; dull; flat; boring
 
abandon; relinquish; to discard
abandon; relinquish; to discard; to throw away
 's; him/her/it; this
 
regrettable; too bad; a pity
regrettable; too bad; a pity; a shame
trad. (食之無味，棄之可惜) 食 之 無味 ， 棄 之 可惜
simp. (食之无味，弃之可惜) 食 之 无味 ， 弃 之 可惜
Literally: “some food may lack flavor, but it would still be a pity to throw it away”.

Etymology

Adapted from a story about Yang Xiu's interpretation of Cao Cao's thoughts in Sanguozhi , and became well known through its adapted version in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms:

夫雞肋，棄之如可惜，食之無所得，以比漢中，知王欲還也。 [Literary Chinese, trad.]
夫鸡肋，弃之如可惜，食之无所得，以比汉中，知王欲还也。 [Literary Chinese, simp.]
From: Chen Shou, Records of the Three Kingdoms, circa 3rd century CE
Fū jīlèi, qì zhī rú kěxī, shí zhī wú suǒdé, yǐ bǐ hànzhōng, zhī wáng yù hái yě. [Pinyin]
As for chicken ribs, it's pitiful to throw them away, yet they are not tasty to eat. If we know that the King [Cao Cao] is using them to compare Hanzhong, we can know that he wants to retreat.

Pronunciation

  • Mandarin
    (Pinyin): shí zhī wúwèi, qì zhī kěxī, shí zhī wúwèi, qì zhī kěxí
    (Zhuyin): ㄕˊ ㄓ ㄨˊ ㄨㄟˋ, ㄑㄧˋ ㄓ ㄎㄜˇ ㄒㄧ, ㄕˊ ㄓ ㄨˊ ㄨㄟˋ, ㄑㄧˋ ㄓ ㄎㄜˇ ㄒㄧˊ
  • Cantonese (Jyutping): sik6 zi1 mou4 mei6, hei3 zi1 ho2 sik1
  • Mandarin
    • (Standard Chinese, Mainland)+
      • Hanyu Pinyin: shí zhī wúwèi, qì zhī kěxī
      • Zhuyin: ㄕˊ ㄓ ㄨˊ ㄨㄟˋ, ㄑㄧˋ ㄓ ㄎㄜˇ ㄒㄧ
      • Tongyong Pinyin: shíh jhih wúwèi, cì jhih kěsi
      • Wade–Giles: shih2 chih1 wu2-wei4- chʻi4 chih1 kʻo3-hsi1
      • Yale: shŕ jr̄ wú-wèi-, chì jr̄ kě-syī
      • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shyr jy wuwey, chih jy keeshi
      • Palladius: ши чжи увэй, ци чжи кэси (ši čži uvɛj, ci čži kɛsi)
      • Sinological IPA (key): /ʂʐ̩³⁵ ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵ u³⁵⁻⁵⁵ weɪ̯⁵¹ ¹ t͡ɕʰi⁵¹ ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵ kʰɤ²¹⁴⁻²¹ ɕi⁵⁵/
    • (Standard Chinese, Taiwan)+
      • Hanyu Pinyin: shí zhī wúwèi, qì zhī kěxí
      • Zhuyin: ㄕˊ ㄓ ㄨˊ ㄨㄟˋ, ㄑㄧˋ ㄓ ㄎㄜˇ ㄒㄧˊ
      • Tongyong Pinyin: shíh jhih wúwèi, cì jhih kěsí
      • Wade–Giles: shih2 chih1 wu2-wei4- chʻi4 chih1 kʻo3-hsi2
      • Yale: shŕ jr̄ wú-wèi-, chì jr̄ kě-syí
      • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shyr jy wuwey, chih jy keeshyi
      • Palladius: ши чжи увэй, ци чжи кэси (ši čži uvɛj, ci čži kɛsi)
      • Sinological IPA (key): /ʂʐ̩³⁵ ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵ u³⁵⁻⁵⁵ weɪ̯⁵¹ ¹ t͡ɕʰi⁵¹ ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵ kʰɤ²¹⁴⁻²¹ ɕi³⁵/
  • Cantonese

Idiom

食之無味，棄之可惜

  1. too arduous to relish, too wasteful to discard.(some things have no apparent value, but one still can't bear to throw them away)

See also
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