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Chinese/Dictionary entry

士为知己者死，女为悦己者容

shì wèi zhī jǐ zhě sǐ , nǚ wèi yuè jǐ zhě róngdictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
a true gentleman will sacrifice his life for a friend who understands him, as a woman makes herself beautiful for her sweetheart
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-c5034d96b1ea88f6. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

士為知己者死，女為悅己者容 士为知己者死，女为悦己者容 [shi4 wei4 zhi1 ji3 zhe3 si3 , nu:3 wei4 yue4 ji3 zhe3 rong2] /a true gentleman will sacrifice his life for a friend who understands him, as a woman makes herself beautiful for her sweetheart/

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: 士為知己者死，女為悅己者容

  • 士
    shì

    member of the senior ministerial class (old) / scholar (old) / bachelor / honorific / soldier / noncommissioned officer / specialist worker

    Shì

    surname Shi

  • 为
    wéi

    as (in the capacity of) / to take sth as / to act as / to serve as / to behave as / to become / to be / to do / by (in the passive voice)

    wèi

    because of / for / to

  • 知
    zhī

    to know / to be aware

  • 己
    jǐ

    self / oneself / sixth of the ten Heavenly Stems 十天干[shí tiān gān] / sixth in order / letter "F" or Roman "VI" in list "A, B, C", or "I, II, III" etc / hexa

  • 者
    zhě

    (after a verb or adjective) one who (is) ... / (after a noun) person involved in ... / -er / -ist / (used after a number or 後|后[hòu] or 前[qián] to refer to sth mentioned previously) / (used after a term, to mark a pause before defining the term) / (old) (used at the end of a command) / (old) this

  • 死
    sǐ

    to die / impassable / uncrossable / inflexible / rigid / extremely / damned

  • 女
    nǚ

    female / woman / daughter

    rǔ

    See the full entry for source details.

  • 为
    wéi

    as (in the capacity of) / to take sth as / to act as / to serve as / to behave as / to become / to be / to do / by (in the passive voice)

    wèi

    because of / for / to

  • 悦
    yuè

    (literary) pleased / to please

  • 己
    jǐ

    self / oneself / sixth of the ten Heavenly Stems 十天干[shí tiān gān] / sixth in order / letter "F" or Roman "VI" in list "A, B, C", or "I, II, III" etc / hexa

  • 者
    zhě

    (after a verb or adjective) one who (is) ... / (after a noun) person involved in ... / -er / -ist / (used after a number or 後|后[hòu] or 前[qián] to refer to sth mentioned previously) / (used after a term, to mark a pause before defining the term) / (old) (used at the end of a command) / (old) this

  • 容
    róng

    to hold / to contain / to allow / to tolerate / appearance / look / countenance

    Róng

    surname Rong

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.