DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

牡丹雖好，全仗綠葉扶持

简牡丹虽好，全仗绿叶扶持 · 繁牡丹雖好，全仗綠葉扶持

Mandarin · pinyin mǔ dan suī hǎo , quán zhàng lǜ yè fú chí

Although the peony is beautiful, it depends entirely on help from the green leaves (idiom). However brilliant you may be, you can't do anything without support from others.

Characters in this entry

牡: mǔ · male of animals; bolt of door
丹: dān · cinnabar (native HgS); vermilion (artificial HgS used as pigment)
雖: Look up this written character
好: hǎo · good, excellent, fine; well
全: quán · maintain, keep whole or intact
仗: zhàng · rely upon; protector; fight; war, weaponry
綠: lǜ · green; chlorine
葉: yè · leaf, petal; page of book; period
扶: fú · support, help; protect; hold on
持: chí · sustain, support; hold, grasp
虽: suī · although, even if
绿: lǜ · green; chlorine
叶: yè · to harmonize, to rhyme; to unite; (borrowed for) leaf

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

12character links

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

maau5 daan1 seoi1 hou2 ，cyun4 zoeng6 luk6 jip6 fu4 ci4

Pleco · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Word reading; meanings not aligned.