啄木鸟啄树，劲儿全使在嘴上啄木鳥啄樹，勁兒全使在嘴上啄木鳥啄樹，勁兒全使在嘴上

woodpecker pecking a tree: all the effort goes into the beak

Saying俗语俗語

Two-part saying歇后语歇後語 · Rarely used now

Meaning: Mocks people who spend all their energy on big talk and do no real work.
Wordplay: 嘴 (zuǐ) means both beak and speech.

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Simplified: 啄木鸟啄树，劲儿全使在嘴上
Traditional (Taiwan): 啄木鳥啄樹，勁兒全使在嘴上
Pinyin: zhuómùniǎo zhuó shù, jìnr quán shǐ zài zuǐ shàng
Bopomofo: ㄓㄨㄛˊ ㄇㄨˋ ㄋㄧㄠˇ ㄓㄨㄛˊ ㄕㄨˋ，ㄐㄧㄣˋㄦㄑㄩㄢˊ ㄕˇ ㄗㄞˋ ㄗㄨㄟˇ ㄕㄤˋ

Written with HSK 4 vocabulary, at CEFR level B1.

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