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衣食父母

Mandarin · pinyin yī shí fù mǔ

the people one depends upon for one's livelihood
one's bread and butter

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Characters in this entry

衣: yī · clothes, clothing; cover, skin; Kangxi radical 145
食: shí · eat; meal; food; Kangxi radical 184
父: fù · father; Kangxi radical 88
母: mǔ · mother; female elders; female

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

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Mandarin tones

1–2–4–3 · yi1 shi2 fu4 mu3

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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.

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

ji1 sik6 fu6 mou5

Cantonese word readings for 衣食父母. 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) person on whom one's livelihood depends

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

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