越俎代庖

Chinese

		to exceed; to climb over; to surpass to exceed; to climb over; to surpass; the more ... the more	a stand for food at sacrifice	to do others' job for them; to act in the place of others
simp. and trad. (越俎代庖)		越	俎	代庖
Literally: “(the priest) leave his cups and takes the place of the cook”.

Etymology

From Zhuangzi:

庖人雖不治庖，尸祝不越樽俎而代之矣。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

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庖人虽不治庖，尸祝不越樽俎而代之矣。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: Zhuangzi, circa 3^rd – 2^nd centuries BCE

Páorén suī bù zhìpáo, shīzhù bù yuè zūnzǔ ér dài zhī yǐ. [Pinyin]

Though the cook were not attending to his kitchen, the representative of the dead and the officer of prayer would not leave their cups and stands to take his place.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): yuèzǔdàipáo

  (Zhuyin): ㄩㄝˋ ㄗㄨˇ ㄉㄞˋ ㄆㄠˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): jyut⁶ zo² doi⁶ paau⁴

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: yuèzǔdàipáo
    • Zhuyin: ㄩㄝˋ ㄗㄨˇ ㄉㄞˋ ㄆㄠˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: yuèzǔdàipáo
    • Wade–Giles: yüeh⁴-tsu³-tai⁴-pʻao²
    • Yale: ywè-dzǔ-dài-páu
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: yuehtzuudaypaur
    • Palladius: юэцзудайпао (jueczudajpao)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɥɛ⁵¹ t͡su²¹⁴⁻²¹ taɪ̯⁵¹ pʰɑʊ̯³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: jyut⁶ zo² doi⁶ paau⁴
    • Yale: yuht jó doih pàauh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: jyt⁹ dzo² doi⁶ paau⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: yud⁶ zo² doi⁶ pao⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jyːt̚² t͡sɔː³⁵ tɔːi̯²² pʰaːu̯²¹/

Idiom

越俎代庖

1. to overstep one's bounds and meddle in other's affairs