| to kill; to murder; to slaughter | fowl; chicken | to frighten; to scare; to intimidate to frighten; to scare; to intimidate; to threaten |
monkey | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| trad. (殺雞嚇猴/殺鷄嚇猴) | 殺 | 雞/鷄 | 嚇 | 猴 | |
| simp. (杀鸡吓猴) | 杀 | 鸡 | 吓 | 猴 | |
| Literally: “to kill the chicken to scare the monkey”. | |||||
殺雞嚇猴
| Variety | Location | Words |
|---|---|---|
| Formal (Written Standard Chinese) | 殺雞嚇猴, 殺雞駭猴, 殺雞儆猴, 殺雞給猴看, 殺一儆百 | |
| Northeastern Mandarin | Taiwan | 殺雞儆猴, 殺一儆百 |
| Singapore | 殺雞儆猴 | |
| Jiaoliao Mandarin | Yantai (Muping) | 打兒騾子馬驚 |
| Cantonese | Hong Kong | 殺雞儆猴, 殺一儆百 |
| Hakka | Meixian | 斬狗教猴 |
| Yudu | 殺雞教猴 | |
| Miaoli (N. Sixian) | 殺狗教猴, 斬狗教猴 | |
| Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian) | 殺狗教猴, 斬狗教猴 | |
| Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu) | 殺狗教猴, 斬狗教猴 | |
| Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu) | 殺狗教猴, 打狗教猴, 斬狗教猴 | |
| Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping) | 殺狗教猴, 㓾狗教猴, 斬狗教猴 | |
| Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an) | 㓾狗教猴, 斬狗教猴 | |
| Eastern Min | Fuzhou | 刣雞教猴 |
| Southern Min | Xiamen | 刣雞教猴 |
| Quanzhou | 刣雞教猴 | |
| Jinjiang | 刣雞教猴 | |
| Zhangzhou | 刣雞教猴 | |
| Tainan | 刣雞教猴 | |
| Singapore (Hokkien) | 刣雞教猴 | |
| Jieyang | 刣雞教猴 | |
| Haifeng | 刣貓教猴 | |
| Leizhou | 刣狗猻乞猿望 | |
| Puxian Min | Putian | 刣雞教猴 |