鹹魚翻身

鹹魚翻身

See also: 咸鱼翻身

Chinese

		salted fish; zombie	to turn over; to double over; to turn around
trad. (鹹魚翻身)		鹹魚	翻身
simp. (咸鱼翻身)		咸鱼	翻身
variant forms		鹹魚翻生／咸鱼翻生

Etymology

From 鹹魚返生／咸鱼返生 (haam4 jyu4-2 faan1 saang1), originally a Cantonese fishermen's saying, literally “the salted fish becomes alive again”.

The Cantonese-specific word 返生 (faan1 saang1, “to be brought back to life”) was changed to the similar-sounding word 翻身 (fānshēn, “to turn over the body”) when it spread to other varieties of Chinese. Hence this seemingly paradoxical saying (“salted fish turns its body over”, i.e. still a salted fish).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): xiányú fānshēn

  (Zhuyin): ㄒㄧㄢˊ ㄩˊ ㄈㄢ ㄕㄣ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): haam⁴ jyu^4-2 faan¹ san¹
• Wu (Wiktionary): hhe hhngg fe sen (T3); hhe hhy fe sen (T3)

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Pinyin: xiányú fānshēn
    • Zhuyin: ㄒㄧㄢˊ ㄩˊ ㄈㄢ ㄕㄣ
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shyanyu fanshen
    • Tongyong Pinyin: siányú fanshen
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɕjɛn³⁵ y³⁵ fän⁵⁵ ʂən⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: haam⁴ jyu^4-2 faan¹ san¹
    • Yale: hàahm yú fāan sān
    • Cantonese Pinyin: haam⁴ jy^4-2 faan¹ san¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: ham⁴ yu² fan¹ sen¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /häːm²¹ jyː²¹⁻³⁵ fäːn⁵⁵ sɐn⁵⁵/
• Wu
  • (Shanghainese)
    • Wiktionary: hhe hhngg fe sen (T3); hhe hhy fe sen (T3)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɦe̞²² ɦŋ̍⁵⁵ fe̞³³ səɲ²¹/, /ɦe̞²² ɦy⁵⁵ fe̞³³ səɲ²¹/

Idiom

鹹魚翻身

1. to be successful when it seems one would absolutely be a failure; to become a changed man; the underdog achieves success; Someone, who is at the lowest point in their career etc. and deemed by everyone to be impossible to achieve anything, gets a chance to be successful again due to their hard work, luck, or other reasons.

   鹹魚翻身還是鹹魚 [MSC, trad.]
   咸鱼翻身还是咸鱼 [MSC, simp.]

   xiányú fānshēn háishì xiányú [Pinyin]

   even if the underdog becomes the overdog, he is still a dog