DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT
不當家不知柴米貴
简 不当家不知柴米贵 · 繁 不當家不知柴米貴Mandarin · pinyin bù dāng jiā bù zhī chái mǐ guì
Meanings
- a person who doesn't manage a household would not be aware how expensive it is (idiom)
Characters in this entry
- 不
- bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
- 當
- dāng · bear, accept, undertake; just
- 家
- jiā · house, home, residence; family
- 知
- zhī · know, perceive, comprehend
- 柴
- chái · firewood, faggots, fuel
- 米
- mǐ · hulled or husked uncooked rice
- 貴
- Look up this written character
- 当
- dāng · bear, accept, undertake; just
- 贵
- guì · expensive, costly, valuable
Explore the spelling
Mandarin tones
4–1–1–4–1–2–3–4 · bu4 dang1 jia1 bu4 zhi1 chai2 mi3 gui4
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
Connected dictionary
8character links
Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense
Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section
Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.
proverb
- managing a family is not easy, and requires responsibility
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack