DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

扶搖直上

简扶摇直上 · 繁扶搖直上

Mandarin · pinyin fú yáo zhí shàng

to skyrocket
to get quick promotion in one's career

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Characters in this entry

扶: fú · support, help; protect; hold on
搖: yáo · wag, swing, wave; shake; scull
直: zhí · straight, erect, vertical
上: shàng · top; superior, highest; go up, send up
摇: yáo · wag, swing, wave; shake; scull

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

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Mandarin tones

2–2–2–4 · fu2 yao2 zhi2 shang4

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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.

扶搖直上 · find source passages ↗ · 扶摇直上 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

fu4 jiu4 zik6 soeng5

Cantonese word readings for 扶搖直上. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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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.

phrase

(idiomatic) to rapidly ascend
(idiomatic) to rapidly rise through the ranks

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack