海底撈針

Chinese

		seabed; seafloor; bottom of the sea	fish up	needle; pin; injection
trad. (海底撈針)		海底	撈	針
simp. (海底捞针)		海底	捞	针

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): hǎidǐlāozhēn

  (Zhuyin): ㄏㄞˇ ㄉㄧˇ ㄌㄠ ㄓㄣ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): hoi² dai² laau⁴ zam¹
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): hái-tóe-lô-chiam

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: hǎidǐlāozhēn [Phonetic: háidǐlāozhēn]
    • Zhuyin: ㄏㄞˇ ㄉㄧˇ ㄌㄠ ㄓㄣ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: hǎidǐlaojhen
    • Wade–Giles: hai³-ti³-lao¹-chên¹
    • Yale: hǎi-dǐ-lāu-jēn
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: haediilhaujen
    • Palladius: хайдилаочжэнь (xajdilaočžɛnʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /xaɪ̯²¹⁴⁻³⁵ ti²¹⁴⁻²¹ lɑʊ̯⁵⁵ ʈ͡ʂən⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: hoi² dai² laau⁴ zam¹
    • Yale: hói dái làauh jām
    • Cantonese Pinyin: hoi² dai² laau⁴ dzam¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: hoi² dei² lao⁴ zem¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /hɔːi̯³⁵ tɐi̯³⁵ laːu̯²¹ t͡sɐm⁵⁵/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: hái-tóe-lô-chiam
    • Tâi-lô: hái-tué-lô-tsiam
    • Phofsit Daibuun: hay'doefloiciafm
    • IPA (Xiamen): /hai⁵³⁻⁴⁴ tue⁵³⁻⁴⁴ lo²⁴⁻²² t͡siam⁴⁴/

Idiom

海底撈針

1. to look for a needle in a haystack

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 大海撈針 (“to look for a needle in a haystack”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		大海撈針, 海底撈針, 水底撈針, 東海撈針
Mandarin	Taiwan	大海撈針, 海底撈針
	Singapore	海底撈針
Cantonese	Hong Kong	大海撈針
Hakka	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	海底摸針
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	海底摸針
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	海底摸針
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	海底摸針
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	海底摸針
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	海底摸針
Eastern Min	Fuzhou	海底摸針
Southern Min	Xiamen	大海摸針, 海底摸針
	Tainan	海底摸針