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坐吃山空

Mandarin · pinyin zuò chī shān kōng

lit. just sitting and eating, one can deplete even a mountain of wealth (idiom)
fig. to spend one's money without generating any income

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Characters in this entry

坐: zuò · sit; seat; ride, travel by
吃: chī · eat; drink; suffer, endure, bear
山: shān · mountain, hill, peak
空: kōng · empty, hollow, bare, deserted

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Mandarin tones

4–1–1–1 · zuo4 chi1 shan1 kong1

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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.

adj

to be unproductive; to be idle while consuming resources

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

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