为 五 斗 米 折 腰

wèi wǔ dǒu mǐ zhé yāodictionary entry

(allusion to Tao Qian 陶潛|陶潜[Táo Qián], who used this phrase when he resigned from government service rather than show subservience to a visiting inspector) to bow and scrape for five pecks of rice (that being a part of his salary as a local magistrate) / (fig.) to compromise one's principles for the sake of a salary

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-32a71a28a27dc84d. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

為五斗米折腰 为五斗米折腰 [wei4 wu3 dou3 mi3 zhe2 yao1] /(allusion to Tao Qian 陶潛|陶潜[Tao2 Qian2], who used this phrase when he resigned from government service rather than show subservience to a visiting inspector) to bow and scrape for five pecks of rice (that being a part of his salary as a local magistrate)/(fig.) to compromise one's principles for the sake of a salary/

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Reference information

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

Character information

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Other forms in these source records: 為五斗米折腰

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.