狗嘴里吐不出象牙

Traditional: 狗嘴裏吐不出象牙

gǒu zuǐ li tǔ bù chū xiàng yá

Dictionary entry

lit. no ivory comes from the mouth of a dog (idiom)

What does 狗嘴里吐不出象牙 mean?

狗嘴里吐不出象牙 (gǒu zuǐ li tǔ bù chū xiàng yá) has the following dictionary meaning.

1lit. no ivory comes from the mouth of a dog (idiom)

2fig. one does not expect fine words from a scoundrel

Character breakdown

Open each character to see its own meanings and vocabulary links.

狗gǒudog · CL:隻|只[zhi1],條|条[tiao2]嘴zuǐmouth · beak 里lǐvariant of 裡|里[li3]吐tǔto spit · to send out (silk from a silkworm, bolls from cotton flowers etc)不bùno; not so · (bound form) not; un-出chūto go out; to come out · to arise; to occur 象xiàngelephant · CL:隻|只[zhi1]牙yátooth · ivory

Reviewed examples

No reviewed example dialogues yet. This page only shows verified dictionary data until a context lesson is published.

How to pronounce 狗嘴里吐不出象牙

狗嘴里吐不出象牙

gǒu zuǐ li tǔ bù chū xiàng yá

Tap to hear Mandarin.

Base dictionary data: CC-CEDICT · CC BY-SA 4.0.