Chinaman's chance
1
9.9
- idiom
- Slur
- You might as well fold, because you don't stand a Chinaman's chance.
Examples
-
Ain't got a Chinaman's chance of working.
-
We got a Chinaman's chance in Tokyo, that's what we got.
Fiction book (1996) -
He hasn't got a chinaman's chance.
-
He ain't got a Chinaman's chance.
-
Alas, even if acted on, my appeal would not have what used to be called in non-P.C. days a Chinaman's chance.
Academic text (1999) -
He told you this morning he was after your scalp, and you haven't got a chinaman's chance unless you can outmaneuver him.
-
You haven't a Chinaman's chance of getting out of here alive.
-
With the odds stacked against us, we don't stand a Chinaman's chance of winning the match.
-
In this competition, you have a Chinaman's chance of succeeding without proper preparation.
Synonyms
14
3.4
A very small possibility that something will happen
12
8.1
A way to say something is very unlikely to happen
6
3.5
A very small possibility that something will happen
3
4.6
A person or thing unlikely to win in a competition
Antonyms
How Likely
- Literature
198
3.4
- Informal
12
3.7
14
2.4
33
5.0
- Slur
1
9.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
Chinaman's + chance
This phrase's meaning ('almost no possibility') is not compositionally predictable from the parts: knowing 'Chinaman' (an archaic/pejorative term for a Chinese person) and 'chance' (likelihood) does not logically yield the specific sense of a very slim or improbable possibility. The expression is idiomatic, culturally and historically loaded, and its pejorative origin makes the meaning unpredictable for learners, so it should be classified as opaque.
Etymology
Chinaman's chance may come from the 1800s gold rush, where Chinese miners were given the worst land and faced unfair laws and danger, so they had almost no chance to find gold. That's why the phrase came to mean 'almost no chance', but today it is considered 'offensive and old-fashioned'.