寧為雞口,無為牛後

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Chinese

[edit]
peaceful; rather; Ningxia (abbrev.)
because of; for; to
because of; for; to; act as; take...to be; to be; to do; to serve as; to become
 
fowl; chicken mouth; (a measure word, for people, livestock or utensils) not have
because of; for; to
because of; for; to; act as; take...to be; to be; to do; to serve as; to become
 
ox; cow; bull
back; behind; rear
back; behind; rear; afterwards; after; later
 
trad. (寧為雞口,無為牛後/寧爲鷄口,無爲牛後) / / /
simp. (宁为鸡口,无为牛后)
alternative forms 寧為雞口,不為牛後宁为鸡口,不为牛后
Literally: “Better be the beak of a chicken (smaller but cleaner) than the arse of an ox (bigger but dirtier)”.

Etymology

[edit]

Quoted from Su Qin's speech to King Xuanhui of Han, persuading him to unite with other states to fight against Qin:

鄙語:「寧為雞口,無為牛後」。大王西面交臂臣事何以 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
鄙语:「宁为鸡口,无为牛后」。大王西面交臂臣事何以 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
From: Zhanguo Ce, circa 5th – 3rd centuries BCE
Chén wén bǐyǔ yuē: “Níng wèi jī kǒu, wú wèi niú hòu”. Jīn dàwáng xīmiàn jiāobì ér chénshì qín, héyǐ yì yú niú hòu hū? [Pinyin]
(Su Qin said,) “I have heard that there is a saying that ‘it is better to be the beak of a chicken than the arse of an ox’. Now if Your Majesty would like to bow to the west and submit to Qin, that is no difference with being an ox's arse, isn't it?”

Pronunciation

[edit]

Proverb

[edit]

寧為雞口,無為牛後

  1. (figurative) It is better to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond.

Synonyms

[edit]
[edit]

Descendants

[edit]

References

[edit]