舞文弄墨

Chinese

		to dance; to wield; to brandish	language; culture; writing language; culture; writing; formal; literary; gentle	to do; to manage; to handle to do; to manage; to handle; to play with; to fool with; to mess with; to fix; to toy with; lane; alley	China ink; ink stick; (abbrev.)
trad. (舞文弄墨)		舞	文	弄	墨
simp. #(舞文弄墨)		舞	文	弄	墨
Literally: “to dance around with words and play with ink”.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): wǔwénnòngmò

  (Zhuyin): ㄨˇ ㄨㄣˊ ㄋㄨㄥˋ ㄇㄛˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): mou⁵ man⁴ lung⁶ mak⁶

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: wǔwénnòngmò
    • Zhuyin: ㄨˇ ㄨㄣˊ ㄋㄨㄥˋ ㄇㄛˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: wǔwúnnòngmò
    • Wade–Giles: wu³-wên²-nung⁴-mo⁴
    • Yale: wǔ-wén-nùng-mwò
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: wuuwennonqmoh
    • Palladius: увэньнунмо (uvɛnʹnunmo)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /u²¹⁴⁻²¹ wən³⁵ nʊŋ⁵¹⁻⁵³ mu̯ɔ⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: mou⁵ man⁴ lung⁶ mak⁶
    • Yale: móuh màhn luhng mahk
    • Cantonese Pinyin: mou⁵ man⁴ lung⁶ mak⁹
    • Guangdong Romanization: mou⁵ men⁴ lung⁶ meg⁶
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mou̯¹³ mɐn²¹ lʊŋ²² mɐk̚²/

Idiom

舞文弄墨

1. to show off one's literary skills; to be playful with language and words (in writing); to juggle with words