諱疾忌醫

Chinese

		avoid mentioning; to taboo	sickness; disease; hate sickness; disease; hate; envy	avoid as taboo; jealous	medical; medicine; doctor medical; medicine; doctor; to cure; to treat
trad. (諱疾忌醫)		諱	疾	忌	醫
simp. (讳疾忌医)		讳	疾	忌	医

Etymology

From a story of Marquis Huan of Cai recorded in Hanfeizi.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): huìjíjìyī

  (Zhuyin): ㄏㄨㄟˋ ㄐㄧˊ ㄐㄧˋ ㄧ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): wai⁵ zat⁶ gei⁶ ji¹

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: huìjíjìyī
    • Zhuyin: ㄏㄨㄟˋ ㄐㄧˊ ㄐㄧˋ ㄧ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: huèijíjìyi
    • Wade–Giles: hui⁴-chi²-chi⁴-i¹
    • Yale: hwèi-jí-jì-yī
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: hueyjyijihi
    • Palladius: хуэйцзицзии (xuejcziczii)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /xu̯eɪ̯⁵¹ t͡ɕi³⁵ t͡ɕi⁵¹ i⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: wai⁵ zat⁶ gei⁶ ji¹
    • Yale: wáih jaht geih yī
    • Cantonese Pinyin: wai⁵ dzat⁹ gei⁶ ji¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: wei⁵ zed⁶ géi⁶ yi¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /wɐi̯¹³ t͡sɐt̚² kei̯²² jiː⁵⁵/

Idiom

諱疾忌醫

1. to avoid seeking medical attention for fear of disease

   • 譬如病人，患著浮腫，而諱疾忌醫，但願別人糊塗，誤認他為肥胖。 [MSC, trad.]
     譬如病人，患著浮肿，而讳疾忌医，但愿别人糊涂，误认他为肥胖。 [MSC, simp.]

     From: 1936 October 5, Lu Xun (魯迅), 《“立此存照”（三）》, translated by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang

     Pìrú bìngrén, huàn zhe fúzhǒng, ér huìjíjìyī, dànyuàn biérén hútú, wùrèn tā wéi féipàng. [Pinyin]

     They are like a man suffering from dropsy but afraid to see a doctor, who hopes others may be foolish enough to think he is simply fat.

2. (figuratively) to conceal one's shortcomings for fear of criticism