獨木橋

Chinese

		alone; independent; single alone; independent; single; sole; only	tree; wood	bridge
trad. (獨木橋)		獨	木	橋
simp. (独木桥)		独	木	桥

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): dúmùqiáo

(Zhuyin): ㄉㄨˊ ㄇㄨˋ ㄑㄧㄠˊ
Cantonese (Jyutping): duk⁶ muk⁶ kiu⁴
Puxian Min (Pouseng Ping'ing): dorh⁷ borh⁷ gieo²

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: dúmùqiáo
  - Zhuyin: ㄉㄨˊ ㄇㄨˋ ㄑㄧㄠˊ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: dúmùciáo
  - Wade–Giles: tu²-mu⁴-chʻiao²
  - Yale: dú-mù-chyáu
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: dwumuhchyau
  - Palladius: думуцяо (dumucjao)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /tu³⁵ mu⁵¹ t͡ɕʰi̯ɑʊ̯³⁵/
- (Standard Chinese, erhua-ed)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: dúmùqiáor
  - Zhuyin: ㄉㄨˊ ㄇㄨˋ ㄑㄧㄠˊㄦ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: dúmùciáor
  - Wade–Giles: tu²-mu⁴-chʻiao²-ʼrh
  - Yale: dú-mù-chyáur
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: dwumuhchyaul
  - Palladius: думуцяор (dumucjaor)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /tu³⁵ mu⁵¹ t͡ɕʰi̯aʊ̯ɻʷ³⁵/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: duk⁶ muk⁶ kiu⁴
  - Yale: duhk muhk kìuh
  - Cantonese Pinyin: duk⁹ muk⁹ kiu⁴
  - Guangdong Romanization: dug⁶ mug⁶ kiu⁴
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʊk̚² mʊk̚² kʰiːu̯²¹/
Puxian Min
- (Putian)
  - Pouseng Ping'ing: dorh⁷ borh⁷ gieo² [Phonetic: dorh⁶ borh⁶ gieo²]
  - Báⁿ-uā-ci̍: do̤̍h-bo̤̍h-gá̤u
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /tɒʔ⁴⁻²¹ pɒʔ⁴⁻²¹ kieu¹³/
- (Xianyou)
  - Pouseng Ping'ing: dorh⁷ borh⁷ gieo² [Phonetic: dorh⁶ borh⁶ gieo²]
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /tɒʔ⁴⁻² pɒʔ⁴⁻² kieu²⁴/

Noun

獨木橋

single-plank or log foot bridge
(figurative) narrow and difficult route that people have to go through to reach the destination
高考是座獨木橋。 [MSC, trad.]
高考是座独木桥。 [MSC, simp.]
Gāokǎo shì zuò dúmùqiáo. [Pinyin]
The National Higher Education Entrance Examination (gaokao) is a “lone-plank bridge” (since it is viewed as the sole path to future success by many).

See also

陽關道／阳关道 (yángguāndào)

References

“獨木橋”, in 重編國語辭典修訂本 [Revised Mandarin Chinese Dictionary] (in Chinese), National Academy for Educational Research (Taiwan), 2021.
李如龙 [Li, Ru-long]; 刘福铸 [Liu, Fu-zhu]; 吴华英 [Wu, Hua-ying]; 黄国城 [Huang, Guo-cheng] (2019), 莆仙方言调查报告 [Investigation Report on Puxian Dialect] (overall work in Mandarin and Puxian Min), Xiamen University Press, →ISBN, page 39.