明 哲 保 身

míng zhé bǎo shēndictionary entry

a wise man looks after his own hide (idiom) / to put one's own safety before matters of principle

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-7e32ecdc7951e174. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

明哲保身 明哲保身 [ming2 zhe2 bao3 shen1] /a wise man looks after his own hide (idiom)/to put one's own safety before matters of principle/

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Reference information

The definitions above are from CC-CEDICT. Examples and usage notes are available on selected entries.

Character information

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Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.