









高不成低不就 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “Stuck in a dilemma where one is too ambitious to accept a lesser offer but not qualified or fortunate enough to secure a better one, often used in the context of job hunting or marriage”. Literally, “cannot reach for the high, will not settle for the low”.

Chinese and English fill-in vocabulary worksheets
Open the tool →
Choose character parts and animate their colors, together or in stroke order
Open the tool →
Picture and word Bingo for your class
Open the tool →
Turn a Chinese character or sentence into a GIF or MP4
Open the tool →高不成低不就 (gāo bù chéng dī bù jiù) is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “Stuck in a dilemma where one is too ambitious to accept a lesser offer but not qualified or fortunate enough to secure a better one, often used in the context of job hunting or marriage”.
高不成低不就 is pronounced gāo bù chéng dī bù jiù in Mandarin Chinese.
Literally, 高不成低不就 means “cannot reach for the high, will not settle for the low”. It is used to mean “Stuck in a dilemma where one is too ambitious to accept a lesser offer but not qualified or fortunate enough to secure a better one, often used in the context of job hunting or marriage”.
高者无力得到,低者又不屑迁就。形容求职或婚姻上的两难处境。