猴年馬月

Chinese

		monkey	year	horse; surname	moon; month
trad. (猴年馬月)		猴	年	馬	月
simp. (猴年马月)		猴	年	马	月
Literally: “monkey year, horse month”.

Etymology

From 驢年馬月／驴年马月 (lǘniánmǎyuè, “year of the donkey (in the Zodiac); God knows when”).

Alternatively, from dialectal 何年嘛月 (“what year, what month?”).

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): hóuniánmǎyuè

(Zhuyin): ㄏㄡˊ ㄋㄧㄢˊ ㄇㄚˇ ㄩㄝˋ

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: hóuniánmǎyuè
  - Zhuyin: ㄏㄡˊ ㄋㄧㄢˊ ㄇㄚˇ ㄩㄝˋ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: hóuniánmǎyuè
  - Wade–Giles: hou²-nien²-ma³-yüeh⁴
  - Yale: hóu-nyán-mǎ-ywè
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: hournianmaayueh
  - Palladius: хоуняньмаюэ (xounjanʹmajue)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /xoʊ̯³⁵ ni̯ɛn³⁵ mä²¹⁴⁻²¹ ɥɛ⁵¹/
- (Standard Chinese, erhua-ed)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: hóurniánmǎyuè
  - Zhuyin: ㄏㄡˊㄦㄋㄧㄢˊ ㄇㄚˇ ㄩㄝˋ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: hóurniánmǎyuè
  - Wade–Giles: hou²-ʼrh-nien²-ma³-yüeh⁴
  - Yale: hóur-nyán-mǎ-ywè
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: hourlnianmaayueh
  - Palladius: хоурняньмаюэ (xournjanʹmajue)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /xɤʊ̯ɻʷ³⁵ ni̯ɛn³⁵ mä²¹⁴⁻²¹ ɥɛ⁵¹/

Idiom

猴年馬月

an unknown and long time; donkey's years; God knows when
等到猴年馬月／等到猴年马月 ― děng dào hóuniánmǎyuè ― wait for donkey's years

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