虎頭蛇尾

See also: 虎头蛇尾

Chinese

		tiger	head; (noun suffix)	snake; serpent	tail
trad. (虎頭蛇尾)		虎	頭	蛇	尾
simp. (虎头蛇尾)		虎	头	蛇	尾
Literally: “tiger's head, but snake's tail”.

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): hǔtóushéwěi

(Zhuyin): ㄏㄨˇ ㄊㄡˊ ㄕㄜˊ ㄨㄟˇ
Cantonese (Jyutping): fu² tau⁴ se⁴ mei⁵

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: hǔtóushéwěi
  - Zhuyin: ㄏㄨˇ ㄊㄡˊ ㄕㄜˊ ㄨㄟˇ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: hǔtóushéwěi
  - Wade–Giles: hu³-tʻou²-shê²-wei³
  - Yale: hǔ-tóu-shé-wěi
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: huutoursherwoei
  - Palladius: хутоушэвэй (xutoušɛvɛj)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /xu²¹⁴⁻²¹ tʰoʊ̯³⁵ ʂɤ³⁵ weɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: fu² tau⁴ se⁴ mei⁵
  - Yale: fú tàuh sèh méih
  - Cantonese Pinyin: fu² tau⁴ se⁴ mei⁵
  - Guangdong Romanization: fu² teo⁴ sé⁴ méi⁵
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /fuː³⁵ tʰɐu̯²¹ sɛː²¹ mei̯¹³/

Idiom

虎頭蛇尾

to start off strong, but finish weak; to be inconsistent with one's effort

Synonyms

(Min Nan) 虎頭鳥鼠尾／虎头鸟鼠尾, 有頭無尾／有头无尾
(Teochew) 虎頭鐵釘尾／虎头铁钉尾
(Cantonese) 有頭威，冇尾陣／有头威，冇尾阵 (jau⁵ tau⁴ wai¹, mou⁵ mei⁵ zan⁶)

Antonyms

有始有終／有始有终 (yǒushǐyǒuzhōng)

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