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吃皇粮

chī huáng liángdictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
lit. to eat from government coffers / to serve as a government employee / to live off government money
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-c7be6e125949fb12. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

吃皇糧 吃皇粮 [chi1 huang2 liang2] /lit. to eat from government coffers/to serve as a government employee/to live off government money/

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: 吃皇糧

  • 吃
    chī

    to eat / to consume / to eat at (a cafeteria etc) / to eradicate / to destroy / to absorb / to suffer (shock, injury, defeat etc)

  • 皇
    huáng

    emperor

    Huáng

    surname Huang

  • 粮
    liáng

    grain / food / provisions / agricultural tax paid in grain

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.