不可終日

Chinese

		cannot; should not; must not	the whole day; all day long; all the time
trad. (不可終日)		不可	終日
simp. (不可终日)		不可	终日
Literally: “unable to carry on even for a single day”.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): bùkě-zhōngrì

  (Zhuyin): ㄅㄨˋ ㄎㄜˇ ㄓㄨㄥ ㄖˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): bat¹ ho² zung¹ jat⁶

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: bùkě-zhōngrì
    • Zhuyin: ㄅㄨˋ ㄎㄜˇ ㄓㄨㄥ ㄖˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: bùkějhongrìh
    • Wade–Giles: pu⁴-kʻo³-chung¹-jih⁴
    • Yale: bù-kě-jūng-r̀
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: bukeejongryh
    • Palladius: букэчжунжи (bukɛčžunži)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /pu⁵¹ kʰɤ²¹⁴⁻²¹ ʈ͡ʂʊŋ⁵⁵ ʐ̩⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: bat¹ ho² zung¹ jat⁶
    • Yale: bāt hó jūng yaht
    • Cantonese Pinyin: bat⁷ ho² dzung¹ jat⁹
    • Guangdong Romanization: bed¹ ho² zung¹ yed⁶
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /pɐt̚⁵ hɔː³⁵ t͡sʊŋ⁵⁵ jɐt̚²/

Idiom

不可終日

1. (figurative) in a desperate situation
2. (figurative) very frightened; very anxious

   人心惶惶，不可終日 [MSC, trad.]
   人心惶惶，不可终日 [MSC, simp.]

   rénxīnhuánghuáng, bùkězhōngrì [Pinyin]

   people were so anxious that they felt they couldn't live for a single day

Derived terms

• 惶惶不可終日／惶惶不可终日 (huánghuángbùkězhōngrì)