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食玉炊桂

Mandarin · pinyin shí yù chuī guì

Meanings

  1. food is more precious than jade and firewood more expensive than cassia (idiom)
  2. the cost of living is very high
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Characters in this entry

食
shí · eat; meal; food; Kangxi radical 184
玉
yù · jade, precious stone, gem
炊
chuī · cook; meal
桂
guì · cassia or cinnamon
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Entries containing 食玉炊桂 ↗Words written with 食 ↗Words written with 玉 ↗Words written with 炊 ↗Words written with 桂 ↗

Mandarin tones

2–4–1–4 · shi2 yu4 chui1 gui4

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Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

sik6 juk6 ceoi1 gwai3

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

食玉炊桂 · shi2 yu4 chui1 gui4
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 119,881
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record食玉炊桂 食玉炊桂 [shi2 yu4 chui1 gui4] /food is more precious than jade and firewood more expensive than cassia (idiom)/the cost of living is very high/