拆 东 墙 补 西 墙

chāi dōng qiáng bǔ xī qiángdictionary entry

(lit.) to tear down the east wall to repair the west wall (saying) / (fig.) to 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-6c8a7d2166087bd0. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

拆東牆補西牆 拆东墙补西墙 [chai1 dong1 qiang2 bu3 xi1 qiang2] /(lit.) to tear down the east wall to repair the west wall (saying)/(fig.) to 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: 拆東牆補西牆

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.