卖炭的掉在面缸里
mài​tàn​de​diào​zài​miàn​gāng​lǐ

cannot tell black from white

  • created sense approved 卖炭的掉在面缸里/賣炭的掉在麵缸裡 · mài​tàn​de​diào​zài​miàn​gāng​lǐ · cannot tell black from white — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    卖炭的掉在面缸里 / 賣炭的掉在麵缸裡

    mài​tàn​de​diào​zài​miàn​gāng​lǐ

    cannot tell black from white

    (xiehouyu) To be unable to distinguish between right and wrong or good and evil. Literally "a charcoal seller falling into a flour vat", where the black of the charcoal and the white of the flour are mixed up.

    卖 (literal) → 卖/賣 · mài · to sell 炭 (literal) → 炭 · tàn · charcoal 的 (bound) → 的 · de · [nominalizer] 掉 (literal) → 掉 · diào · to fall 在 (literal) → 在 · zài · [location/time] 面 (literal) → 面/麵 · miàn · flour 缸 (literal) → 缸 · gāng · jar 里 (bound) → 里/裡 · li · in

    Changed: simplified, traditional, gloss, definition, pinyin, variant pinyin, variants, separable parts, decomposition

    created sense