# 吃人不吐骨頭
## Chinese

| | | eat; eradicate; destroyeat; eradicate; destroy; receive; stammer | man; person; people | not; no | vomit; to spit | bone; character; personal quality |
| trad. (吃人不吐骨頭/喫人不吐骨頭) | trad. (吃人不吐骨頭/喫人不吐骨頭) | 吃/喫 | 人 | 不 | 吐 | 骨頭 |
| simp. (吃人不吐骨头) | simp. (吃人不吐骨头) | 吃 | 人 | 不 | 吐 | 骨头 |
| alternative forms | alternative forms | 吃肉不吐骨頭／吃肉不吐骨头 吃人不吐骨 吃死人不吐骨頭／吃死人不吐骨头 食人唔𦧲骨 Cantonese | 吃肉不吐骨頭／吃肉不吐骨头 吃人不吐骨 吃死人不吐骨頭／吃死人不吐骨头 食人唔𦧲骨 Cantonese | 吃肉不吐骨頭／吃肉不吐骨头 吃人不吐骨 吃死人不吐骨頭／吃死人不吐骨头 食人唔𦧲骨 Cantonese | 吃肉不吐骨頭／吃肉不吐骨头 吃人不吐骨 吃死人不吐骨頭／吃死人不吐骨头 食人唔𦧲骨 Cantonese | 吃肉不吐骨頭／吃肉不吐骨头 吃人不吐骨 吃死人不吐骨頭／吃死人不吐骨头 食人唔𦧲骨 Cantonese |
| Literally: “to eat a person without spitting bones”. |||||||

### Pronunciation

* Mandarin
    (Pinyin): chī rén bù tǔ gǔtou, chī rén bù tǔ gútou
    (Zhuyin): ㄔ ㄖㄣˊ ㄅㄨˋ ㄊㄨˇ ㄍㄨˇ ˙ㄊㄡ, ㄔ ㄖㄣˊ ㄅㄨˋ ㄊㄨˇ ㄍㄨˊ ˙ㄊㄡ
* Cantonese (Jyutping): hek$^3$ jan$^4$ bat$^1$ tou$^3$ gwat$^1$ tau$^4$
* Mandarin
** (Standard Chinese, standard in Mainland)
*** Hanyu Pinyin: chī rén bù tǔ gǔtou [Phonetic: chīrénbùtúgǔtou]
*** Zhuyin: ㄔ ㄖㄣˊ ㄅㄨˋ ㄊㄨˇ ㄍㄨˇ ˙ㄊㄡ
*** Tongyong Pinyin: chih rén bù tǔ gǔto̊u
*** Wade–Giles: chʻih$^1$ jên$^2$ pu$^4$ tʻu$^3$ ku$^3$-tʻou$^5$
*** Yale: chr̄ rén bù tǔ gǔ-tou
*** Gwoyeu Romatzyh: chy ren bu tuu guu.tou
*** Palladius: чи жэнь бу ту гутоу (či žɛnʹ bu tu gutou)
*** Sinological IPA : /ʈ͡ʂʰʐ̩⁵⁵ ʐən³⁵ pu⁵¹ tʰu²¹⁴⁻³⁵ ku²¹⁴ tʰoʊ̯⁴/
** (Standard Chinese, colloquial variant in Mainland, standard in Taiwan)
*** Hanyu Pinyin: chī rén bù tǔ gútou
*** Zhuyin: ㄔ ㄖㄣˊ ㄅㄨˋ ㄊㄨˇ ㄍㄨˊ ˙ㄊㄡ
*** Tongyong Pinyin: chih rén bù tǔ gúto̊u
*** Wade–Giles: chʻih$^1$ jên$^2$ pu$^4$ tʻu$^3$ ku$^2$-tʻou$^5$
*** Yale: chr̄ rén bù tǔ gú-tou
*** Gwoyeu Romatzyh: chy ren bu tuu gwu.tou
*** Palladius: чи жэнь бу ту гутоу (či žɛnʹ bu tu gutou)
*** Sinological IPA : /ʈ͡ʂʰʐ̩⁵⁵ ʐən³⁵ pu⁵¹ tʰu²¹⁴⁻²¹ ku³⁵ tʰoʊ̯³/
* Cantonese
** (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
*** Jyutping: hek$^3$ jan$^4$ bat$^1$ tou$^3$ gwat$^1$ tau$^4$
*** Yale: hek yàhn bāt tou gwāt tàuh
*** Cantonese Pinyin: hek$^8$ jan$^4$ bat$^7$ tou$^3$ gwat$^7$ tau$^4$
*** Guangdong Romanization: hég$^3$ yen$^4$ bed$^1$ tou$^3$ gued$^1$ teo$^4$
*** Sinological IPA : /hɛːk̚³ jɐn²¹ pɐt̚⁵ tʰou̯³³ kʷɐt̚⁵ tʰɐu̯²¹/

### Idiom

吃人不吐骨頭
* (derogatory, figurative) to be extremely ruthless and greedy
** 1937, 柳湜, “這隻吃人不吐骨頭的大蟲”, in 街頭講話, page 90:
       ‘Dìguó zhǔyì’, ‘dìguó zhǔyì’ zhè yǐ bèi rén shuō de lànshú le. Dàn tā shì yī zhǒng shénme dōngxi ne? Wèishénme tā shì yī zhī chī rén bù tǔ gǔtou de dōngxi ne? Jīnrì de Zhōngguó lǎobǎixìng, zài rìcháng de shēnghuó zhōng, yǐ lǐngjiào guò duōduō le. [Pinyin]
       (please add an English translation of this quotation)
** 三十六年 (1947), 陶菊隱, “人聲鼎沸宛若戰場”, in 天亮前的孤島, page 126:
       Jiāoyìsuǒ shì shìjiè zuì máng de dìfang, tāmen jiù shì shìjiè zuì máng de rén. Bàn guǐliǎn, shuō jiǎ huà, wǔguān sìzhī bìngyòng, méimao bízi yī dòng dōu yǒu zuòyong, chī pánzi bù lù hénjì, chī rén bù tǔ gǔtou, tāmen yòu zhēn shì shìjiè shang zuì jīling de rén. [Pinyin]
       (please add an English translation of this quotation)
** 1965, 李乔, 呼啸的山风 [呼嘯的山风], page 10:这是他們的阴謀詭計，这些吃人的奴隶主，他們吃人不吐骨头，現在还想再吃人！(please add an English translation of this quotation)
** 1980, Duanmu Hongliang, 曹雪芹, volume 上卷, page 371:
       Dàn cǐ rén yī dùzi huàishuǐr, chī rén bù tǔ gǔtou, chéng shì bù zú, bài shì yǒu yú, zhǐnéng lālǒng, bù néng dézuì. [Pinyin]
       But this man is full of evil intentions, extremely ruthless and greedy, and worse than useless. He can only be roped in rather than being offended.

### See also

* 吃人 (chīrén)