人在屋檐下，不得不低頭

Chinese

		man; person; people	(located) at; in; exist (located) at; in; exist; (before verbs) immediately involved in; right in the middle of doing	eaves	under; next; lower under; next; lower; below; underneath; down(wards); to go down; latter		have no choice but to; cannot but; have to	to lower one's head; to bow one's head; to submit to lower one's head; to bow one's head; to submit; to yield; to give in
trad. (人在屋檐下，不得不低頭/人在屋簷下，不得不低頭)		人	在	屋檐/屋簷	下	，	不得不	低頭
simp. (人在屋檐下，不得不低头)		人	在	屋檐	下	，	不得不	低头
Literally: “When a man stands under eaves, he has to lower his head.”

Etymology

A wordplay of 低頭／低头 (dītóu)'s literal and figurative meaning.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): rén zài wūyán xià, bùdébù dītóu

  (Zhuyin): ㄖㄣˊ ㄗㄞˋ ㄨ ㄧㄢˊ ㄒㄧㄚˋ , ㄅㄨˋ ㄉㄜˊ ㄅㄨˋ ㄉㄧ ㄊㄡˊ

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: rén zài wūyán xià, bùdébù dītóu
    • Zhuyin: ㄖㄣˊ ㄗㄞˋ ㄨ ㄧㄢˊ ㄒㄧㄚˋ , ㄅㄨˋ ㄉㄜˊ ㄅㄨˋ ㄉㄧ ㄊㄡˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: rén zài wuyán sià, bùdébù ditóu
    • Wade–Giles: jên² tsai⁴ wu¹-yen² hsia⁴, pu⁴-tê²-pu⁴ ti¹-tʻou²
    • Yale: rén dzài wū-yán syà-, bù-dé-bù dī-tóu
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: ren tzay uyan shiah, buderbu ditour
    • Palladius: жэнь цзай уянь ся, будэбу дитоу (žɛnʹ czaj ujanʹ sja, budɛbu ditou)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʐən³⁵ t͡saɪ̯⁵¹ u⁵⁵ jɛn³⁵ ɕi̯ä⁵¹⁻⁵³ pu⁵¹ tɤ³⁵ pu⁵¹ ti⁵⁵ tʰoʊ̯³⁵/

Proverb

人在屋檐下，不得不低頭

1. One often has to concede when he or she is in a disadvantaged position