Chinese word dictionary

寅吃卯粮

yín chī mǎo liáng · lit. eating away next year's food in advance; fig. to dip into the next month's check; live now, pay later

Practice word

Word information

Simplified寅吃卯粮

Traditional寅吃卯糧

Pinyinyín chī mǎo liáng

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.

寅yín

to respect, to revere; respectfully; 3rd terrestrial branch

吃chī

to eat; to drink; to suffer, to endure, to bear

卯mǎo

4th terrestrial branch; period from 5-7 a.m.

粮liáng

food, grain, provisions

How to learn 寅吃卯粮

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.

吃chī

to eat; to consume; to eat at (a cafeteria etc); to eradicate; to destroy; to absorb; to suffer (shock, injury, defeat etc); variant of 吃[chi1]

好吃hǎochī

tasty; delicious

吃惊chījīng

to be startled; to be shocked; to be amazed

小吃xiǎochī

street food; snack

粮食liángshi

foodstuff; cereals; CL:種|种[zhong3]

大吃一惊dàchī-yìjīng

(idiom) astounded; flabbergasted; taken aback