老虎英文分析:Those Interesting Words About Tiger

编者按：在中国有关于老虎的解释有许多，例如纸老虎，母老虎等词，是你有听说过的，我们一起来看看用英语怎么解释中国这些文化吧。

When talking about the word about "tiger (老虎lǎohu)" in Chinese, most of foreigners know the idiom on 马马虎虎 (mǎ mǎ hu hu), which means “careless” or “so-so”!

The word is one of the easiest and most fundamental idiomatic expressions in all of Chinese. If one asks your opinion on something you weren’t too crazy about, you can reply with 马马虎虎(mǎ mǎ hu hu).

Apart from this word, actually, there are more interesting words about "tiger (老虎lǎohu)" in Chinese and they are lots of fun!

1

纸老虎

zhǐ lǎohu

paper tiger

纸老虎, literal English translation of "paper tiger"(zhǐ lǎohu), refers to something that seems threatening but is ineffectual and unable to withstand challenge. The expression became well known in the West as a slogan used by Mao Zedong's Chinese communist state against its opponents, particularly the U.S. government.

2

秋老虎

qiū lǎohu

Autumn tiger

Nooooo....秋老虎(qiū lǎohuAutumn tiger) has nothing to do with the tiger. It simply means the weather is as tough as a tiger (still very hot) after the autumn is known as an Indian summer in English.

3

母老虎

mǔ lǎohu

female tiger

An interesting word! Let's look at the Pleco dictionary first:

Character母老虎

Pin Yinmǔ lǎohu

Pleco Definition1. tigress

2. (fig.) fierce woman

3. vixen;shrew;termagant

When describing a fierce woman in figuratively, this word, 母老虎(mǔ lǎohu female tiger) is used. Usually, this saying refers to those tough wifes .

A: 我得回家了。回去晚了老婆又得说我了!

B: 你老婆肯定是个母老虎，要不你为什么这么怕她?

A: wǒ děi huíjiā le. Huíqù wǎnle lǎopó yòu děi shuō wǒ le!

B: nǐ lǎopo kěndìng shì gè mǔ lǎohu, yàobù nǐ wèishénme zhème pà tā?

A: I must go home. My wife would blame me again if I am back late!

B: Your wife is a "female tiger", otherwise why you are scare of her?

Source: wikipedia; theworldofchinese; weeklychinese

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