📖 Meaning
Describes someone who is awkward and inarticulate in speech, lacking fluency or eloquence when expressing themselves. It refers to a person who struggles to find the right words or speaks clumsily, often out of shyness or a lack of skill with language.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from the Qing-dynasty novel 《林兰香》 (Lin Lan Xiang) by the author 随缘下士 (Suiyuan Xiashi). In the text a character remarks, "I am not someone who pays attention to everything, it is just that my mouth and tongue are clumsy and blunt, so I dare not speak carelessly." From this self-deprecating confession, later readers distilled the phrase 拙嘴笨舌 to describe someone who is poor at speaking. It reflects the classical notion that caution in speech may stem from a genuine lack of verbal skill.
💡 Example Usage
他拙嘴笨舌，向女孩表白时一句话也说不出来。
He is so clumsy-tongued that he could not get a single word out when confessing to the girl.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 拙嘴笨舌
- Pinyin: zhuō zuǐ bèn shé
- Literal Translation: clumsy, mouth, dull, tongue
- Category: Communication
- Characters: 4