死馬當活馬醫

Chinese
 
to die; impassable; uncrossable; inflexible; rigid
 horse; surname
 
to act as; represent; equal; should; fitting; suitable; adequate; proper; replace; to be; to hold a position; manage; withstand; when; during; ought; match equally; same; obstruct; just at (a time or place); on the spot; right; just at
 
to live; alive; living; work; workmanship
 horse; surname
 
medical; medicine; doctor; to cure; to treat
trad. (死馬當活馬醫) 死 馬 當 活 馬 醫
simp. (死马当活马医) 死 马 当 活 马 医
Literally: “to give medicine to a dead horse”.

Pronunciation
  • Mandarin
    (Pinyin): sǐmǎ dāng huómǎ yī
    (Zhuyin): ㄙˇ ㄇㄚˇ ㄉㄤ ㄏㄨㄛˊ ㄇㄚˇ ㄧ
  • Mandarin
    • (Standard Chinese)+
      • Pinyin: sǐmǎ dāng huómǎ yī [Phonetic: símǎdānghuómǎyī]
      • Zhuyin: ㄙˇ ㄇㄚˇ ㄉㄤ ㄏㄨㄛˊ ㄇㄚˇ ㄧ
      • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: syymaa dang hwomaa i
      • IPA (key): /sz̩²¹⁴⁻³⁵ mä²¹⁴⁻²¹¹ tɑŋ⁵⁵ xu̯ɔ³⁵ mä²¹⁴⁻²¹¹ i⁵⁵/

Idiom

死馬當活馬醫

  1. to keep trying everything in a desperate situation; to resort to desperate measures in desperate times
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