士為知己者死,女為悅己者容

简 士为知己者死,女为悦己者容 · 繁 士為知己者死,女為悅己者容
Mandarin · pinyin shì wèi zhī jǐ zhě sǐ , nǚ wèi yuè jǐ zhě róng

Meanings

  1. a true gentleman will sacrifice his life for a friend who understands him, as a woman makes herself beautiful for her sweetheart
Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

士
shì · scholar, gentleman; soldier
為
Look up this written character
知
zhī · know, perceive, comprehend
己
jǐ · self, oneself; personal, private; 6th heavenly stem
者
zhě · that which; he who; those who
死
sǐ · die; dead; death
女
nǚ · woman, girl; feminine; Kangxi radical 38; 10th lunar mansion, determinative star ε Aquarii (Albali)
悅
Look up this written character
容
róng · looks, appearance; figure, form
为
wèi · do, handle, govern, act; be
悦
yuè · pleased, contented, gratified
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.

士為知己者死,女為悅己者容 · find source passages ↗ · 士为知己者死,女为悦己者容 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

士為知己者死,女為悅己者容 · shi4 wei4 zhi1 ji3 zhe3 si3 , nu:3 wei4 yue4 ji3 zhe3 rong2
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 26,911
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record士為知己者死,女為悅己者容 士为知己者死,女为悦己者容 [shi4 wei4 zhi1 ji3 zhe3 si3 , nu:3 wei4 yue4 ji3 zhe3 rong2] /a true gentleman will sacrifice his life for a friend who understands him, as a woman makes herself beautiful for her sweetheart/