前人栽樹,後人乘涼

简 前人栽树,后人乘凉 · 繁 前人栽樹,後人乘涼
Mandarin · pinyin qián rén zāi shù , hòu rén chéng liáng

Meanings

  1. to enjoy the benefits of the hard work of one's predecessors. (idiom)
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Characters in this entry

前
qián · in front, forward; preceding
人
rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
栽
zāi · to cultivate, plant; to care for plants
樹
shù · tree; plant; set up, establish
後
hòu · behind, rear, after; descendents
乘
chéng · ride, ascend; avail oneself of; numerary adjunct for vehicles
涼
liáng · cool, cold; disheartened
树
shù · tree; plant; set up, establish
后
hòu · queen, empress, sovereign; (simp. for 後) behind, rear, after
凉
liáng · cool, cold; disheartened
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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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.

前人栽樹,後人乘涼 · find source passages ↗ · 前人栽树,后人乘凉 · find source passages ↗

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前人栽樹,後人乘涼 · qian2 ren2 zai1 shu4 , hou4 ren2 cheng2 liang2
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 14,412
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record前人栽樹,後人乘涼 前人栽树,后人乘凉 [qian2 ren2 zai1 shu4 , hou4 ren2 cheng2 liang2] /to enjoy the benefits of the hard work of one's predecessors. (idiom)/