The New Dictionary.
Search dictionary
Chinese/Dictionary entry

哑巴吃黄连，有苦说不出

yǎ ba chī huáng lián , yǒu kǔ shuō bu chūdictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
to be forced to suffer in silence (idiom) / unable to speak of one's bitter suffering / sometimes written 啞子吃黃連，有苦說不出|哑子吃黄连，有苦说不出
Sources & editorial notes

Reference definitions: CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source release 2026-10-27T01:55:52Z. Imported 2026-10-27. Definition wording and meaning order are retained. Recognized pronunciation references are displayed with tone marks; the original source record is available below.

Source record: cd-a4f2852f11a0670e. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

啞巴吃黃連，有苦說不出 哑巴吃黄连，有苦说不出 [ya3 ba5 chi1 huang2 lian2 , you3 ku3 shuo1 bu5 chu1] /to be forced to suffer in silence (idiom)/unable to speak of one's bitter suffering/sometimes written 啞子吃黃連，有苦說不出|哑子吃黄连，有苦说不出/

Reference definitions and teaching material have separate provenance.

Reference information

The definitions above are from CC-CEDICT. Examples and usage notes are available on selected entries.

Character information

View the individual characters. Their meanings do not necessarily explain the meaning of the whole word.

Other forms in these source records: 啞巴吃黃連，有苦說不出

  • 哑
    yā

    (onom.) sound of cawing / sound of infant learning to talk

    yǎ

    mute / dumb / incapable of speech / (of a voice) hoarse / husky / (bound form) (of a bullet, bomb etc) dud

  • 巴
    bā

    to long for / to wish / to cling to / to stick to / sth that sticks / close to / next to / spread open / informal abbr. for bus 巴士[bā shì] / bar (unit of pressure) / nominalizing suffix on certain nouns, such as 尾巴[wěi ba], tail

    Bā

    Ba, a state during the Zhou dynasty (in present-day Chongqing and the eastern part of Sichuan) / the east of Sichuan and Chongqing Municipality / surname Ba / (bound form) abbr. for 巴勒斯坦[Bā lè sī tǎn] (Palestine), 巴基斯坦[Bā jī sī tǎn] (Pakistan) or 巴西[Bā xī] (Brazil)

  • 吃
    chī

    to eat / to consume / to eat at (a cafeteria etc) / to eradicate / to destroy / to absorb / to suffer (shock, injury, defeat etc)

  • 黄
    huáng

    yellow / pornographic / to fall through

    Huáng

    surname Huang or Hwang

  • 连
    lián

    to link / to join / to connect / continuously / in succession / including / (used with 也[yě], 都[dōu] etc) even / company (military)

    Lián

    surname Lian

  • 有
    yǒu

    to have / there is / (bound form) having / with / -ful / -ed / -al (as in 有意[yǒu yì] intentional)

  • 苦
    kǔ

    bitter / hardship / pain / to suffer / to bring suffering to / painstakingly

  • 说
    shuì

    to persuade

    shuō

    to speak / to talk / to say / to explain / to comment / to scold / to tell off / (bound form) theory / doctrine

  • 不
    bù

    no / not so / (bound form) not / un-

  • 出
    chū

    to go out / to come out / to arise / to occur / to produce / to yield / to go beyond / to exceed / (used after a verb to indicate an outward direction or a positive result) / classifier for dramas, plays, operas etc

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.