塞翁失馬

塞翁失馬

See also: 塞翁失马

Chinese

		to stuff; to stop up; to squeeze in to stuff; to stop up; to squeeze in; strategic pass; piston; unenlightened; Serb (abbr.); Serbian	elderly person	to lose; to miss; to fail	horse; surname
trad. (塞翁失馬)		塞	翁	失	馬
simp. (塞翁失马)		塞	翁	失	马
Literally: “the old frontiersman loses his horse”.

Etymology

See 塞翁失馬，焉知非福／塞翁失马，焉知非福 (sàiwēng shī mǎ, yānzhī fēi fú).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): sàiwēngshīmǎ

  (Zhuyin): ㄙㄞˋ ㄨㄥ ㄕ ㄇㄚˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): coi³ jung¹ sat¹ maa⁵

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Pinyin: sàiwēngshīmǎ
    • Zhuyin: ㄙㄞˋ ㄨㄥ ㄕ ㄇㄚˇ
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: sayuengshymaa
    • IPA ^(key): /saɪ̯⁵¹ u̯əŋ⁵⁵ ʂʐ̩⁵⁵ mä²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: coi³ jung¹ sat¹ maa⁵
    • Yale: choi yūng sāt máh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: tsoi³ jung¹ sat⁷ maa⁵
    • Guangdong Romanization: coi³ yung¹ sed¹ ma⁵
    • IPA ^(key): /t͡sʰɔːy̯³³ jʊŋ⁵⁵ sɐt̚⁵ mäː¹³/

Idiom

塞翁失馬

1. Every cloud has a silver lining. / A setback may turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

Synonyms

• 因禍得福／因祸得福

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (塞翁失馬):

• → Korean: 새옹실마 (塞翁失馬, sae-ongsilma)

Others:

• Japanese: 塞翁 (さいおう)が馬 (うま) (saiō ga uma)
• Korean: 새옹지마 (塞翁之馬, sae-ongjima)