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飢不擇食

简饥不择食 · 繁飢不擇食

Mandarin · pinyin jī bù zé shí

when hungry, you can't pick what you eat (idiom); beggars can't be choosers
When matters are urgent, don't spend time choosing alternatives.

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Characters in this entry

飢: Look up this written character
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
擇: Look up this written character
食: shí · eat; meal; food; Kangxi radical 184
饥: jī · hunger, starving; hungry; a famine
择: zé · select, choose, pick out

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

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Mandarin tones

1–4–2–2 · ji1 bu4 ze2 shi2

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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.

飢不擇食 · find source passages ↗ · 饥不择食 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

gei1 bat1 zaak6 sik6

Cantonese word readings for 飢不擇食. 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

(figurative) to be not choosy when one is hungry or when matters are urgent; beggars can't be choosers

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

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