Gye-ran-yu-gol

鷄

닭 계

卵

알 란

有

있을 유

骨

뼈 골

Character by character

Meaning

Even the egg has a bone — for the unlucky, everything snags.

Origin

A Korean coinage from an anecdote about the famously frugal Joseon minister Hwang Hui.

How it is used

Said with sympathy about someone whose plans keep going wrong.

Hanja鷄卵有骨

Simplified鸡卵有骨

Korean reading계란유골

Pinyinjī luǎn yǒu gǔ

Frequently asked questions

Q. What does Gye-ran-yu-gol mean?

鷄卵有骨 · Even the egg has a bone — for the unlucky, everything snags.

Q. Where does Gye-ran-yu-gol come from?

A Korean coinage from an anecdote about the famously frugal Joseon minister Hwang Hui.

Q. How is Gye-ran-yu-gol used?

Said with sympathy about someone whose plans keep going wrong.

Idioms in the same group

四面楚歌 Sa-myeon-cho-gaChu songs on all four sides — surrounded with nowhere to turn.進退兩難 Jin-toe-yang-nanHard to advance and hard to retreat.累卵之危 Nu-ran-ji-wiAs precarious as a stack of eggs.風前燈火 Pung-jeon-deung-hwaA lamp flame before the wind — an extremely precarious state.五里霧中 O-ri-mu-jungInside a fog five li deep — completely unable to make sense of things.雪上加霜 Seol-sang-ga-sangFrost on top of snow — one misfortune stacked on another.

The idioms used in Korea mix phrases from the Chinese classics with ones coined in Korea. Where an expression is not used in China, the entry says so.