穷 家 薄 业

qióng jiā bó yèdictionary entry

lit. poor and with few means of subsistance (idiom) / fig. destitute

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-3e4828baf3119299. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

窮家薄業穷家薄业 [qiong2 jia1 bo2 ye4] /lit. poor and with few means of subsistance (idiom)/fig. destitute/

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: 窮家薄業

穷
qióng
poor / destitute / to use up / to exhaust / thoroughly / extremely / (coll.) persistently and pointlessly
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]
薄
báo
thin / cold in manner / indifferent / weak / light / infertile
bó
meager / slight / weak / ungenerous or unkind / frivolous / to despise / to belittle / to look down on / to approach or near
bò
see 薄荷[bò he]
Bó
surname Bo
业
yè
line of business / industry / occupation / job / employment / school studies / enterprise / property / (Buddhism) karma / deed / to engage in / already
Yè
surname Ye

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.