DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

兒不嫌母醜，狗不嫌家貧

简儿不嫌母丑，狗不嫌家贫 · 繁兒不嫌母醜，狗不嫌家貧

Mandarin · pinyin ér bù xián mǔ chǒu , gǒu bù xián jiā pín

a son won't abandon his mother for being ugly, just as a dog won't abandon its owner for being poor (proverb)

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

兒: ér · son, child, oneself; final part
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
嫌: xián · hate, detest; suspect; criticize
母: mǔ · mother; female elders; female
醜: Look up this written character
狗: gǒu · dog, Canis familiaris
家: jiā · house, home, residence; family
貧: Look up this written character
儿: ér · son, child; Kangxi radical 10
丑: chǒu · clown, comedian; second earthly branch
贫: pín · poor, impoverished, needy

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

Explore the spelling

Connected dictionary

9character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

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

Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

兒不嫌母醜，狗不嫌家貧 · find source passages ↗ · 儿不嫌母丑，狗不嫌家贫 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗