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媳婦熬成婆

简媳妇熬成婆 · 繁媳婦熬成婆

Mandarin · pinyin xí fù áo chéng pó

lit. even a submissive daughter-in-law will one day become a domineering mother-in-law (idiom)
fig. the oppressed will become the oppressor
what goes around comes around

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Characters in this entry

媳: xí · daughter-in-law
婦: Look up this written character
熬: áo · cook down, to boil; endure
成: chéng · completed, finished, fixed
婆: pó · old woman; grandmother
妇: fù · married women; woman; wife

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

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Mandarin tones

2–4–2–2–2 · xi2 fu4 ao2 cheng2 po2

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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.

媳婦熬成婆 · find source passages ↗ · 媳妇熬成婆 · find source passages ↗

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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.

proverb

Those who suffer, will one day get their chance; What goes around comes around.

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

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