王八看綠豆——對上眼了

Chinese

		tortoise; turtle; cuckold	to see; to look at; to look after to see; to look at; to look after; to take care of; to watch; to guard; it depends; think	mung bean		couple; pair; to be opposite couple; pair; to be opposite; to oppose; to face; for; to; correct (answer); to answer; to reply; to direct (towards sth); right	up; on; on top up; on; on top; upon; first; previous or last; upper; higher; above; previous; to climb; to go into; to go up	eye	to know; to understand; (modal particle intensifying preceding clause) to know; to understand; (modal particle intensifying preceding clause); (completed action marker)
trad. (王八看綠豆——對上眼了)		王八	看	綠豆	——	對	上	眼	了
simp. (王八看绿豆——对上眼了)		王八	看	绿豆	——	对	上	眼	了
alternative forms		王八看綠豆——看對眼了／王八看绿豆——看对眼了 王八看綠豆——看上眼了／王八看绿豆——看上眼了 王八看綠豆——對眼了／王八看绿豆——对眼了
Literally: “A tortoise gazes at two mung beans ― taking a fancy to each other. (because a tortoise's eyes look like two mung beans)”.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): wángba kàn lǜdòu, duìshàng yǎn le

  (Zhuyin): ㄨㄤˊ ˙ㄅㄚ ㄎㄢˋ ㄌㄩˋ ㄉㄡˋ , ㄉㄨㄟˋ ㄕㄤˋ ㄧㄢˇ ˙ㄌㄜ

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: wángba kàn lǜdòu, duìshàng yǎn le
    • Zhuyin: ㄨㄤˊ ˙ㄅㄚ ㄎㄢˋ ㄌㄩˋ ㄉㄡˋ , ㄉㄨㄟˋ ㄕㄤˋ ㄧㄢˇ ˙ㄌㄜ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: wángbå kàn lyùdòu, duèishàng yǎn le̊
    • Wade–Giles: wang²-pa⁵ kʻan⁴ lü⁴-tou⁴, tui⁴-shang⁴ yen³ lê⁵
    • Yale: wáng-ba kàn lyù-dòu-, dwèi-shàng yǎn le
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: wangba kann liuhdow, dueyshanq yean .le
    • Palladius: ванба кань люйдоу, дуйшан янь лэ (vanba kanʹ ljujdou, dujšan janʹ lɛ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /wɑŋ³⁵ b̥ä³ kʰän⁵¹⁻⁵³ ly⁵¹⁻⁵³ toʊ̯⁵¹⁻⁵³ tu̯eɪ̯⁵¹⁻⁵³ ʂɑŋ⁵¹ jɛn²¹⁴ lə⁴/

Idiom

王八看綠豆——對上眼了

1. (derogatory, humorous) Describes two ugly people who find each other attractive.