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看菜吃饭，量体裁衣

kàn cài chī fàn , liàng tǐ cái yīdictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
lit. to eat depending on the dish, cut cloth according to the body (idiom) / fig. to act according to actual circumstances
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-fcdaff2f13432c69. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

看菜吃飯，量體裁衣 看菜吃饭，量体裁衣 [kan4 cai4 chi1 fan4 , liang4 ti3 cai2 yi1] /lit. to eat depending on the dish, cut cloth according to the body (idiom)/fig. to act according to actual circumstances/

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: 看菜吃飯，量體裁衣

  • 看
    kān

    to look after / to take care of / to watch / to guard

    kàn

    to see / to look at / to read / to watch / to visit / to call on / to consider / to regard as / to look after / to treat (a patient or illness) / to depend on / to feel (that) / (after a verb) to give it a try / to watch out for

  • 菜
    cài

    vegetable / greens (CL:棵[kē]) / dish (of food) (CL:樣|样[yàng],道[dào],盤|盘[pán]) / (of one's skills etc) weak / poor / (coll.) (one's) type

  • 吃
    chī

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

  • 饭
    fàn

    cooked rice / CL:碗[wǎn] / meal / CL:頓|顿[dùn] / (loanword) fan / devotee

  • 量
    liáng

    to measure

    liàng

    capacity / quantity / amount / to estimate / abbr. for 量詞|量词[liàng cí], classifier (in Chinese grammar) / measure word

  • 体
    tī

    used in 體己|体己[tī ji] / Taiwan pr. [tǐ]

    tǐ

    body / form / style / system / substance / to experience / aspect (linguistics)

  • 裁
    cái

    to cut out (as a dress) / to cut / to trim / to reduce / to diminish / to cut back (e.g. on staff) / decision / judgment

  • 衣
    yī

    clothes / CL:件[jiàn] / Kangxi radical 145

    yì

    to dress / to wear / to put on (clothes)

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.