DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

腳正不怕鞋歪

简脚正不怕鞋歪 · 繁腳正不怕鞋歪

Mandarin · pinyin jiǎo zhèng bù pà xié wāi

lit. a straight foot has no fear of a crooked shoe
an upright man is not afraid of gossip (idiom)

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

腳: jiǎo · foot; base, leg, foundation
正: zhèng · right, proper, correct
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
怕: pà · to fear, be afraid of; apprehensive
鞋: xié · shoes, footwear in general
歪: wāi · slant; inclined; askew, awry
脚: jiǎo · leg, foot; base, leg, foundation

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

3–4–4–4–2–1 · jiao3 zheng4 bu4 pa4 xie2 wai1

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

7character 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.

腳正不怕鞋歪 · find source passages ↗ · 脚正不怕鞋歪 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗