DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

酒肉朋友

Mandarin · pinyin jiǔ ròu péng you

lit. drinking buddy (idiom)
fig. fair-weather friend

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

酒: jiǔ · wine, spirits, liquor, alcoholic beverage
肉: ròu · flesh; meat; Kangxi radical 130
朋: péng · friend, pal, acquaintance
友: yǒu · friend, companion; fraternity

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

3–4–2–5 · jiu3 rou4 peng2 you5

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

4character 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.

酒肉朋友 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

zau2 juk6 pang4 jau5

Cantonese word readings for 酒肉朋友. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

noun

fair-weather friend (one who is friendly only to his own advantage)

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

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