抱佛腳

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search
See also: 抱佛脚

Chinese

[edit]
to hold; to carry (in one's arms); to hug or embrace
to hold; to carry (in one's arms); to hug or embrace; surround; cherish
 
Buddha; Buddhism role; foot; base
trad. (抱佛腳)
simp. (抱佛脚)
alternative forms 抱佛跤 Min
抱佛骹 Min
Literally: “to grab the Buddha's foot”.

Etymology

[edit]

The sense of "profess Buddhism" was attested in Meng Jiao's poem:

垂老抱佛腳黃經。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
垂老抱佛脚黄经。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
From: Meng Jiao, 《讀經》
Chuílǎo bào fó jiǎo, jiào qī dú huángjīng. [Pinyin]
I grabbed Buddha's feet (professed Buddhism) at old age, and taught my wife to read Buddhist texts.

The sense of "to do something at last minute" is short for 平時不燒香,臨時抱佛腳平时不烧香,临时抱佛脚 (píngshí bù shāoxiāng, línshí bào fójiǎo), an idiom which was derived from the above poem.

Pronunciation

[edit]

Verb

[edit]

抱⫽佛腳 (verb-object)

  1. to leave something to do at the last minute; to make a last-minute effort
  2. (original meaning, now rare) to profess Buddhism

Synonyms

[edit]

Derived terms

[edit]

References

[edit]