和尚划船——無法度

Chinese
 
preceptor; high priest; head monk
preceptor; high priest; head monk; any Buddhist monk
 to row; rowing to no avail
trad. (和尚划船——無法度) 和尚 划船 —— 無法度
simp. (和尚划船——无法度) 和尚 划船 —— 无法度
Literally: “A Buddhist monk rows a boat - a man with no hair sailing across (to no avail)”.

Etymology

A monk is bald, i.e. he has no hair (無髮／无发 (bô hoat)). Therefore, the second part of the phrase is 無髮渡／无发渡. 髮／发 (hoat) has the same pronunciation as 法 (hoat) and 渡 (tō͘, “sailing across the sea or river”) has the same pronunciation as 度 (tō͘)

Pronunciation

  • Southern Min
    • (Hokkien: General Taiwanese)
      • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: hôe-siūⁿ kò-chûn, bô-hoat-tō͘
      • Tâi-lô: huê-siūnn kò-tsûn, bô-huat-tōo
      • IPA (Kaohsiung): /hue²³⁻³³ ɕiũ³³⁻²¹ kɤ²¹⁻⁴¹ t͡sun²³ bɤ²³⁻³³ huat̚³²⁻⁴ tɔ³³/
      • IPA (Taipei): /hue²⁴⁻¹¹ ɕiũ³³⁻¹¹ ko¹¹⁻⁵³ t͡sun²⁴ bo²⁴⁻¹¹ huat̚³²⁻⁴ tɔ³³/

Idiom

和尚划船——無法度

  1. (Hokkien, xiehouyu) to no avail
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