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拆东补西

chāi dōng bǔ xīdictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
lit. pull down the east wall to repair the west (idiom) / fig. temporary expedient / Rob Peter to pay Paul
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-3d32d4b990a2b939. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

拆東補西 拆东补西 [chai1 dong1 bu3 xi1] /lit. pull down the east wall to repair the west (idiom); fig. temporary expedient/Rob Peter to pay Paul/

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: 拆東補西

  • 拆
    chāi

    to tear open / to tear down / to tear apart / to open

  • 东
    dōng

    east / host (i.e. sitting on east side of guest) / landlord

    Dōng

    surname Dong

  • 补
    bǔ

    to repair / to patch / to mend / to make up for / to fill (a vacancy) / to supplement

  • 西
    xī

    west

    Xī

    the West / abbr. for Spain 西班牙[Xī bān yá] / Spanish

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.