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民以食為天

简民以食为天 · 繁民以食為天

Mandarin · pinyin mín yǐ shí wéi tiān

Food is the God of the people. (idiom); People view food as the primary need.
Food first, ethical niceties second

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Characters in this entry

民: mín · people, subjects, citizens
以: yǐ · by means of; thereby, therefore; consider as; in order to
食: shí · eat; meal; food; Kangxi radical 184
為: Look up this written character
天: tiān · sky, heaven; god, celestial
为: wèi · do, handle, govern, act; be

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

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Mandarin tones

2–3–2–2–1 · min2 yi3 shi2 wei2 tian1

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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.

民以食為天 · find source passages ↗ · 民以食为天 · 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

People see food as their primary need.

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

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