三 顾 茅 庐

sān gù máo lúdictionary entry

lit. to make three visits to the thatched cottage (idiom) (allusion to an episode in Romance of the Three Kingdoms 三國演義|三国演义[Sān guó Yǎn yì] in which Liu Bei 劉備|刘备[Liú Bèi] recruits Zhuge Liang 諸葛亮|诸葛亮[Zhū gě Liàng] to his cause by visiting him three times) / fig. to make earnest and repeated requests of sb

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-3564676191794fa6. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

三顧茅廬 三顾茅庐 [san1 gu4 mao2 lu2] /lit. to make three visits to the thatched cottage (idiom) (allusion to an episode in Romance of the Three Kingdoms 三國演義|三国演义[San1 guo2 Yan3 yi4] in which Liu Bei 劉備|刘备[Liu2 Bei4] recruits Zhuge Liang 諸葛亮|诸葛亮[Zhu1 ge3 Liang4] to his cause by visiting him three times)/fig. to make earnest and repeated requests of sb/

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: 三顧茅廬

三
sān
three / 3
Sān
surname San
顾
gù
to look after / to take into consideration / to attend to
Gù
surname Gu
茅
máo
reeds / rushes
Máo
surname Mao
庐
lú
hut
Lú
surname Lu / Luzhou or Lu Prefecture 廬州|庐州[Lú Zhōu], a prefecture between the 6th and 13th centuries in present-day Anhui / Mount Lu 廬山|庐山[Lú Shān] in Jiangxi Province

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.