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吃皇糧

简吃皇粮 · 繁吃皇糧

Mandarin · pinyin chī huáng liáng

lit. to eat from government coffers
to serve as a government employee
to live off government money

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Characters in this entry

吃: chī · eat; drink; suffer, endure, bear
皇: huáng · royal, imperial; ruler, superior
糧: Look up this written character
粮: liáng · food, grain, provisions

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

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Mandarin tones

1–2–2 · chi1 huang2 liang2

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

verb

(figurative, idiomatic) to live off a government salary

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

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