jau4 tau4 dou3 mei5由頭到尾由头到尾

Jyutpingjau4 tau4 dou3 mei5

Yaleyàuh tàuh dou méih

Definition

From start to finish; from beginning to end; from head to toe.

colloquialdaily actionsdescriptions

How it's used

Focuses on the entirety of a process or event rather than physical anatomy. It is frequently used to emphasize that someone has been involved in or aware of a situation for its entire duration. Use this when you want to stress that nothing was missed or that a sequence of events was continuous.

Examples

gin6件si6事jau4由tau4頭dou3到mei5尾dou1都hai6係keoi5佢gaau2搞ceot1出lai4嚟。

He was the one who caused this whole thing from start to finish.

nei5你jau4由tau4頭dou3到mei5尾jau5有mou5冇teng1聽gwo3過ngo5我gong2講je5嘢aa4呀？

Have you listened to a word I said from start to finish?

Common phrases

jau4由tau4頭dou3到mei5尾gong2講jat1一ci3次

tell the whole story from start to finish

jau4由tau4頭dou3到mei5尾dou1都m4唔zi1知

to have no idea from start to finish

Common mistake

Do not use this to describe literal physical movement from a person's head to their toes, as that would sound unnatural; use phrases like 由頭到腳 instead.