The New Dictionary.
Search dictionary
Chinese/Dictionary entry

货比三家不吃亏

huò bǐ sān jiā bù chī kuīdictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
shop around first and you won't get ripped off (idiom)
Sources & editorial notes

Reference definitions: CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source release 2026-10-27T01:55:52Z. Imported 2026-10-27. Definition wording and meaning order are retained. Recognized pronunciation references are displayed with tone marks; the original source record is available below.

Source record: cd-23cbe63195cdf38f. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

貨比三家不吃虧 货比三家不吃亏 [huo4 bi3 san1 jia1 bu4 chi1 kui1] /shop around first and you won't get ripped off (idiom)/

Reference definitions and teaching material have separate provenance.

Reference information

The definitions above are from CC-CEDICT. Examples and usage notes are available on selected entries.

Character information

View the individual characters. Their meanings do not necessarily explain the meaning of the whole word.

Other forms in these source records: 貨比三家不吃虧

  • 货
    huò

    goods / money / commodity / CL:個|个[gè]

  • 比
    bī

    See the full entry for source details.

    bǐ

    to compare / (followed by a noun and adjective) more {adj.} than {noun} / ratio / to gesture / (Taiwan pr. [bì] in some compounds derived from Classical Chinese)

    Bǐ

    Belgium / Belgian / abbr. for 比利時|比利时[Bǐ lì shí]

  • 三
    sān

    three / 3

    Sān

    surname San

  • 家
    jiā

    used in 傢伙|家伙[jiā huo] and 傢俱|家俱[jiā jù] / home / family / (polite) my (sister, uncle etc) / classifier for families or businesses / refers to the philosophical schools of pre-Han China / noun suffix for a specialist in some activity, such as a musician or revolutionary, corresponding to English -ist, -er, -ary or -ian / CL:個|个[gè]

  • 不
    bù

    no / not so / (bound form) not / un-

  • 吃
    chī

    to eat / to consume / to eat at (a cafeteria etc) / to eradicate / to destroy / to absorb / to suffer (shock, injury, defeat etc)

  • 亏
    kuī

    to lose (money) / to have a deficit / to be deficient / to treat unfairly / luckily / fortunately / thanks to / (used to introduce an ironic remark about sb who has fallen short of expectations)

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.