Progressing from characters to words and idioms marks advanced Chinese. This guide freely explains 「漆身吞炭」 for your learning.
The Chinese idiom we are introducing this time is 「漆身吞炭」. You can find its meaning and application outlined below.
Lacquer the body: paint the body with lacquer to treat leprosy; swallow charcoal: swallow charcoal in the throat to make one mute. It refers to deliberately changing one’s pronunciation so that people cannot recognize oneself.
The Mandarin pronunciation of this idiom is :
qī shēn tūn tàn
while its Cantonese pinyin is :
chat1 san1 tan1 taan3
The world of Chinese idioms is massive, filled with countless expressions, each with distinct meanings and applications. These materials are here to support you as you improve your Chinese skills.
