爭風吃醋

简 争风吃醋 · 繁 爭風吃醋
Mandarin · pinyin zhēng fēng chī cù

Meanings

  1. to rival sb for the affection of a man or woman
  2. to be jealous of a rival in a love affair
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Characters in this entry

爭
Look up this written character
風
fēng · wind; air; manners, atmosphere; Kangxi radical 182
吃
chī · eat; drink; suffer, endure, bear
醋
cù · vinegar; jealousy, envy
争
zhēng · dispute, fight, contend, strive
风
fēng · wind; air; manners, atmosphere
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–1–1–4 · zheng1 feng1 chi1 cu4

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6character links1same-tone record
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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.

爭風吃醋 · find source passages ↗ · 争风吃醋 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

  1. (idiomatic) to vie jealously for someone's affection; to be green with envy

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

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

爭風吃醋 · zheng1 feng1 chi1 cu4
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 71,382
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record爭風吃醋 争风吃醋 [zheng1 feng1 chi1 cu4] /to rival sb for the affection of a man or woman/to be jealous of a rival in a love affair/