DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

反裘負芻

简反裘负刍 · 繁反裘負芻

Mandarin · pinyin fǎn qiú fù chú

lit. to wear one's coat inside out and carry firewood on one's back (idiom)
fig. to live a life of poverty and hard work
fig. to act stupidly

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

反: fǎn · reverse, opposite, contrary, anti
裘: qiú · fur garments; surname
負: Look up this written character
芻: Look up this written character
负: fù · load, burden; carry, bear
刍: chú · mow, cut grass; hay, fodder

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

3–2–4–2 · fan3 qiu2 fu4 chu2

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.

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.

反裘負芻 · find source passages ↗ · 反裘负刍 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗