扎嘴儿的葫芦,倒不出来 扎嘴兒的葫蘆,倒不出來 扎嘴兒的葫蘆,倒不出來

a gourd with its mouth tied: nothing pours out

Saying俗语俗語

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

Meaning
Describes someone who stays silent or cannot get words out.
Wordplay
倒 (dào, pour) puns on 道 (dào, say), so "can't pour out" means "can't say".
Simplified
扎嘴儿的葫芦,倒不出来
Traditional (Taiwan)
扎嘴兒的葫蘆,倒不出來
Pinyin
zhā zuǐr de húlu, dào bù chūlái
Bopomofo
ㄓㄚ ㄗㄨㄟˇㄦ ˙ㄉㄜ ㄏㄨˊ ˙ㄌㄨ,ㄉㄠˋ ㄅㄨˋ ㄔㄨ ㄌㄞˊ

Written with HSK 6 vocabulary, at CEFR level B2.

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