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抱佛腳

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: 抱佛脚

Chinese

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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

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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

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Verb

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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

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Derived terms

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References

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