Chinese word dictionary

买椟还珠

mǎi dú huán zhū · to buy a wooden box and return the pearls inside; to show poor judgment (idiom)

Practice word

Word information

Simplified买椟还珠

Traditional買櫝還珠

Pinyinmǎi dú huán zhū

Part of speechDictionary

HSK 3.0Not listed

HSK 2.0Not listed

Character breakdown

Study each Hanzi separately, then return to the complete word so pronunciation, meaning, and movement stay connected.

买mǎi

to buy, to purchase; to bribe, to persuade

椟dú

cabinet, closet, wardrobe

还hái

also, besides; still, yet; to return

珠zhū

gem, jewel, pearl, precious stone

How to learn 买椟还珠

Listen once without reading, repeat the pinyin with its tones, then write every character in sequence. Finally, recall the complete meaning instead of memorizing each character as an isolated translation.

When the word appears in a sentence, check whether its part of speech and meaning match the definition shown here. Chinese words can change nuance with context.

Related vocabulary

Words with the same characters

Compare how a familiar Hanzi changes meaning inside another word.

还hái

still; still in progress; still more; yet; even more; in addition; fairly; passably (good); as early as; even; also; else

买mǎi

to buy; to purchase

还是háishi

still (as before); had better; unexpectedly; or

购买gòumǎi

to purchase; to buy

买卖mǎimai

purchase and sale; transaction; shop; store

退还tuìhuán

to return (sth borrowed etc); to send back; to refund; to rebate