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

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• 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
Northeastern Mandarin	Beijing	大海裡撈針
	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	海底摸針, 大海摸針
	Tainan	海底摸針, 大海摸針