DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT
好漢不吃眼前虧
简 好汉不吃眼前亏 · 繁 好漢不吃眼前虧Mandarin · pinyin hǎo hàn bù chī yǎn qián kuī
Meanings
- a wise man knows better than to fight when the odds are against him (idiom)
Characters in this entry
- 好
- hǎo · good, excellent, fine; well
- 漢
- Look up this written character
- 不
- bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
- 吃
- chī · eat; drink; suffer, endure, bear
- 眼
- yǎn · eye; eyelet, hole, opening
- 前
- qián · in front, forward; preceding
- 虧
- Look up this written character
- 汉
- hàn · Chinese people; Chinese language
- 亏
- kuī · lose, fail; damage; deficient
Explore the spelling
Mandarin tones
3–4–4–1–3–2–1 · hao3 han4 bu4 chi1 yan3 qian2 kui1
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
Connected dictionary
7character links
Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading
hou2 hon3 bat1 hek3 ngaan5 cin4 kwai1
Pleco · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Word reading; meanings not aligned.
Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section
Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.
proverb
- A wise man does not fight when the odds are against him; A wise man knows when to retreat.
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack