大 丈 夫 能 屈 能 伸

dà zhàng fu néng qū néng shēndictionary entry

A leader can submit or can stand tall as required. / ready to give and take / flexible

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-3387a0e3403d858d. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

大丈夫能屈能伸 大丈夫能屈能伸 [da4 zhang4 fu5 neng2 qu1 neng2 shen1] /A leader can submit or can stand tall as required./ready to give and take/flexible/

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.

大
dà
big / large / great / older (than another person) / eldest (as in 大姐[dà jiě]) / greatly / freely / fully / (dialect) father / (dialect) uncle (father's brother)
dài
see 大夫[dài fu]
丈
zhàng
measure of length, ten Chinese feet (3.3 m) / to measure / husband / polite appellation for an older male
夫
fū
husband / man / manual worker / conscripted laborer (old)
fú
(classical) this, that / he, she, they / (exclamatory final particle) / (initial particle, introduces an opinion)
能
néng
can / to be able to / might possibly / ability / (physics) energy
Néng
surname Neng
屈
qū
bent / to feel wronged
Qū
surname Qu
能
néng
can / to be able to / might possibly / ability / (physics) energy
Néng
surname Neng
伸
shēn
to stretch / to extend

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.