東亞病夫

Chinese

		East Asia	sick man; invalid
trad. (東亞病夫)		東亞	病夫
simp. (东亚病夫)		东亚	病夫

Etymology

Calque of English sick man of East Asia. This term was first used by Western media to describe the Imperial Qing Dynasty. It was however gradually associated with the then prevalent opium usage in China and came to be understood as an insult to Chinese people. Later, Bruce Lee's movie Fist of Fury (1972) contributed decisively to the infamy of this term, thus fixing its modern sense.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): Dōngyà bìngfū, Dōngyǎ bìngfū

  (Zhuyin): ㄉㄨㄥ ㄧㄚˋ ㄅㄧㄥˋ ㄈㄨ, ㄉㄨㄥ ㄧㄚˇ ㄅㄧㄥˋ ㄈㄨ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): dung¹ aa³ beng⁶ fu¹

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, standard in Mainland and Taiwan)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: Dōngyà bìngfū
    • Zhuyin: ㄉㄨㄥ ㄧㄚˋ ㄅㄧㄥˋ ㄈㄨ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: Dongyà bìngfu
    • Wade–Giles: Tung¹-ya⁴ ping⁴-fu¹
    • Yale: Dūng-yà bìng-fū
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: Dongyah binqfu
    • Palladius: Дунъя бинфу (Dunʺja binfu)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʊŋ⁵⁵ jä⁵¹⁻⁵³ piŋ⁵¹ fu⁵⁵/
      
  • (Standard Chinese, common variant)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: Dōngyǎ bìngfū
    • Zhuyin: ㄉㄨㄥ ㄧㄚˇ ㄅㄧㄥˋ ㄈㄨ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: Dongyǎ bìngfu
    • Wade–Giles: Tung¹-ya³ ping⁴-fu¹
    • Yale: Dūng-yǎ bìng-fū
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: Dongyea binqfu
    • Palladius: Дунъя бинфу (Dunʺja binfu)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʊŋ⁵⁵ jä²¹⁴⁻²¹ piŋ⁵¹ fu⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: dung¹ aa³ beng⁶ fu¹
    • Yale: dūng a behng fū
    • Cantonese Pinyin: dung¹ aa³ beng⁶ fu¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: dung¹ a³ béng⁶ fu¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʊŋ⁵⁵ aː³³ pɛːŋ²² fuː⁵⁵/

Noun

東亞病夫

1. (ethnic slur, derogatory, usually collective) Chinese people.