高不湊低不就

简 高不凑低不就 · 繁 高不湊低不就
Mandarin · pinyin gāo bù còu dī bù jiù

Meanings

  1. can't reach the high or accept the low (idiom); not good enough for a high post, but too proud to take a low one
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Characters in this entry

高
gāo · high, tall; lofty, elevated; Kangxi radical 189
不
bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
湊
Look up this written character
低
dī · low; to lower, hang, bend, bow
就
jiù · just, simply; to come, go to; to approach, near
凑
còu · piece together, assemble
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–4–4–1–4–4 · gao1 bu4 cou4 di1 bu4 jiu4

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高不湊低不就 · gao1 bu4 cou4 di1 bu4 jiu4
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 121,736
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record高不湊低不就 高不凑低不就 [gao1 bu4 cou4 di1 bu4 jiu4] /can't reach the high or accept the low (idiom); not good enough for a high post, but too proud to take a low one/