面瓜

麵瓜
miànguā
noun

Measure Word

Meanings

  1. 1 (dialect) pumpkin
  2. 2 (figurative) oaf, wimp, useless person

Examples

Dōngběirén bǎ nánguā jiào zuò miànguā.
Northeasterners call pumpkins 'miangua'.
Nǐ zhège miànguā, lián zhè diǎn xiǎo shì dōu bàn bu hǎo.
You wimp — you can't even handle this little thing.

Tips

register
Northeastern (东北话 Dōngběihuà) and northern dialect. (miàn, soft / floury) describes the texture of cooked pumpkin — soft and mealy — and metaphorically a person who is mushy, weak-willed, and easy to push around.
memory
Same logic as English 'squash' for a pushover: a soft, easily squished vegetable becomes the slang for a soft, easily pushed-around person.

Stroke Order

miàn
guā