有耳無喙

Chinese

		to have; there is; there are to have; there is; there are; to exist; to be	ear	not have	mouth
trad. (有耳無喙)		有	耳	無	喙
simp. (有耳无喙)		有	耳	无	喙
alternative forms		有耳無嘴／有耳无嘴
Literally: “to have ears, without a mouth”.

Pronunciation

• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): ū-hī-bô-chhùi / ū-hīⁿ-bô-chhùi / ǔ-hǐ-bô-chhùi

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• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Zhangzhou, variant in Taiwan)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: ū-hī-bô-chhùi
    • Tâi-lô: ū-hī-bô-tshuì
    • Phofsit Daibuun: uxhixboizhuix
    • IPA (Xiamen): /u²²⁻²¹ hi²²⁻²¹ bo²⁴⁻²² t͡sʰui²¹/
    • IPA (Taipei): /u³³⁻¹¹ hi³³⁻¹¹ bo²⁴⁻¹¹ t͡sʰui¹¹/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /u²²⁻²¹ hi²²⁻²¹ bo¹³⁻²² t͡sʰui²¹/
  • (Hokkien: General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: ū-hīⁿ-bô-chhùi
    • Tâi-lô: ū-hīnn-bô-tshuì
    • Phofsit Daibuun: uxhvixboizhuix
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /u³³⁻²¹ hĩ³³⁻²¹ bɤ²³⁻³³ t͡sʰui²¹/
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: ǔ-hǐ-bô-chhùi
    • Tâi-lô: ǔ-hǐ-bô-tshuì
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /u²² hi²² bo²⁴⁻²² t͡sʰui⁴¹/

Idiom

有耳無喙

1. (Hokkien, figurative) Describes someone who listens but doesn't typically speak up with their opinion especially when they are expected to

Verb

有耳無喙

1. (Hokkien, figurative) to silently listen (without interrupting); to listen and be quiet

Synonyms

• 有喙無舌／有喙无舌

Further reading

• 周长楫 [Zhou, Changji], editor (2006), “有耳无喙”, in 闽南方言大词典 MINNAN FANGYAN DA CIDIAN [Dictionary of Southern Min dialects] (overall work in Hokkien and Mandarin), Fuzhou: 福建人民出版社 [Fujian People's Publishing House], →ISBN, page 41.
• 小川尚義 (OGAWA Naoyoshi), editor (1931–1932), “有耳無嘴”, in 臺日大辭典 [Taiwanese-Japanese Dictionary]‎^[1] (overall work in Hokkien and Japanese), Taihoku: Government-General of Taiwan, →OCLC
• Douglas, Carstairs (1873) “ū-hī bô-chhùi”, in Chinese-English Dictionary of the Vernacular or Spoken Language of Amoy, [With 1923 Supplement after the Appendix by Thomas Barclay, Shanghai: Commercial Press, Ltd.] edition (overall work in Hokkien and English), London: Trübner & Co., page 128; New Edition (With Chinese Character Glosses) edition, London: Presbyterian Church of England, 1899, page 128