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僧多粥少

sēng duō zhōu shǎodictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
lit. many monks and not much gruel (idiom) / fig. not enough to go around / demand exceeds supply
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-eb70d257f5ba35a1. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

僧多粥少 僧多粥少 [seng1 duo1 zhou1 shao3] /lit. many monks and not much gruel (idiom)/fig. not enough to go around/demand exceeds supply/

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.

  • 僧
    sēng

    (bound form) Buddhist monk (abbr. for 僧伽[sēng qié])

  • 多
    duō

    many / much / more / a lot of / too many / in excess / (after a numeral) ... odd / how (to what extent) (Taiwan pr. [duó]) / (bound form) multi- / poly-

  • 粥
    yù

    used in 葷粥|荤粥[Xūn yù]

    zhōu

    congee / gruel / porridge / CL:碗[wǎn]

  • 少
    shǎo

    few / less / to lack / to be missing / to stop (doing sth) / seldom

    shào

    young

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.