LookupMandarin · 繁體 · English

ChineseCharactersMeanings inMandarin–English · CC-CEDICTSources ↗

DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

越俎代庖

Mandarin · pinyin yuè zǔ dài páo

lit. to go beyond the sacrificial altar and take over the kitchen (idiom); fig. to exceed one's place and meddle in other people's affairs
to take matters into one's own hands

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

越: yuè · exceed, go beyond; the more ...
俎: zǔ · chopping board or block; painted
代: dài · replace, replacement (of person or generation); era, generation
庖: páo · kitchen; cooking, cuisine

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

4–3–4–2 · yue4 zu3 dai4 pao2

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

4character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

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

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jyut6 zo2 doi6 paau4

Cantonese word readings for 越俎代庖. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

jyut6 zo2 doi6 paau4

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.

phrase

(figurative) to overstep one's bounds and meddle in other's affairs

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack