LookupMandarin · 繁體 · English

ChineseCharactersMeanings inMandarin–English · CC-CEDICTSources ↗

DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

食言而肥

Mandarin · pinyin shí yán ér féi

lit. to grow fat eating one's words (idiom)
fig. not to live up to one's promises

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

食: shí · eat; meal; food; Kangxi radical 184
言: yán · words, speech; speak, say; Kangxi radical 149
而: ér · and; and then; and yet; but; Kangxi radical 126
肥: féi · fat, plump, obese; fertile

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

2–2–2–2 · shi2 yan2 er2 fei2

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

sik6 jin4 ji4 fei4

Cantonese word readings for 食言而肥. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) not to live up to one's promises

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

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