桃李

桃李

Chinese

		peach	surname; plum
simp. and trad. (桃李)		桃	李

Etymology

Literally, peaches and plums. From an ancient anecdote that describes how planting either the peach or the plum tree in spring will give you shade in summer and fruit ripe for the picking in autumn as opposed to planting, let's say, thorns; also refers to the fact that peach and plum trees take considerable amount of time and care to cultivate, but the fruit is always sweet.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): táolǐ

  (Zhuyin): ㄊㄠˊ ㄌㄧˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): tou⁴ lei⁵
• Min Nan (POJ): thô-lí

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Pinyin: táolǐ
    • Zhuyin: ㄊㄠˊ ㄌㄧˇ
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: taurlii
    • IPA ^(key): /tʰɑʊ̯³⁵ li²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: tou⁴ lei⁵
    • Yale: tòuh léih
    • Cantonese Pinyin: tou⁴ lei⁵
    • Guangdong Romanization: tou⁴ léi⁵
    • IPA ^(key): /tʰou̯²¹ lei̯¹³/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: thô-lí
    • Tâi-lô: thô-lí
    • Phofsit Daibuun: toilie
    • IPA (Xiamen): /tʰo²⁴⁻²² li⁵³/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /tʰo²⁴⁻²² li⁵⁵⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /tʰo¹³⁻²² li⁵³/
    • IPA (Taipei): /tʰo²⁴⁻¹¹ li⁵³/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /tʰɤ²³⁻³³ li⁴¹/

Noun

桃李

1. all the pupils of a teacher over his/her lifetime