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宰相肚里好撑船
宰相肚里好撑船
宰相肚里好撑船
宰相肚里好撑船
宰相肚里好撑船
宰相肚里好撑船
宰相肚里好撑船
宰相肚里好撑船

宰相肚里好撑船 — “To be extremely magnanimous, tolerant, and broad-minded”

宰相肚里好撑船 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to be extremely magnanimous, tolerant, and broad-minded”. To have a very generous and accommodating spirit. Literally, “A prime minister's stomach is large enough to sail a boat”.

Frequency

宰相肚里好撑船 Pronunciation and Pinyin

宰相肚里好撑船 Character Breakdown

Stroke Order
CharacterPinyinStrokesMeaning
宰
zǎi10slaughter, overcharge, control
相
xiàng9mutual or appearance
肚
dù7belly, stomach, or abdomen
里
lǐ7inside, village, unit of length
好
hǎo6good, well, okay, very
撑
chēng15prop up, support, open
船
chuán11boat or ship

Example Sentence with 宰相肚里好撑船

他总是乐于帮助别人,从不计较小事,真是宰相肚里好撑船。
He is always willing to help others and never bothers about trifles; he truly has a magnanimous heart.

Origin and Story of 宰相肚里好撑船

During the Ming Dynasty, Yang Gongfu from Yixing, a Dali Shaoqing (minor judicial official) in Nanjing, was renowned for his poetry.

His house servant frequently gathered duckweed from Xuanwu Lake to feed the pigs.

At that time, Zhang Wusian of the Censorate deemed this improper and dispatched his subordinates to Xuanwu Lake to put a stop to it.

Upon learning of this, Yang Gongfu composed a poem, which included the lines: "You cannot even tolerate a few specks of floating duckweed, how then can your stomach be large enough to sail a boat?"

Idioms Related to 宰相肚里好撑船

Synonyms of 宰相肚里好撑船

  • kuān宽hóng宏dà大liàng量magnanimous and tolerant

Antonyms of 宰相肚里好撑船

  • xiǎo小dù肚jī鸡cháng肠narrow-minded and petty

More idioms starting with 宰

  • zǎi宰xiàng相dù肚lǐ里néng能xíng行chuán船be magnanimous and tolerant
  • zǎi宰xiàng相dù肚lǐ里xíng行zhōu舟chuán船extremely magnanimous and tolerant
  • zǎi宰jī鸡jiào教hóu猴punish one to warn others

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Questions about 宰相肚里好撑船

What does 宰相肚里好撑船 mean?

宰相肚里好撑船 (zǎi xiàng dù lǐ hǎo chēng chuán) is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to be extremely magnanimous, tolerant, and broad-minded”.

How do you pronounce 宰相肚里好撑船?

宰相肚里好撑船 is pronounced zǎi xiàng dù lǐ hǎo chēng chuán in Mandarin Chinese.

What does 宰相肚里好撑船 literally mean?

Literally, 宰相肚里好撑船 means “a prime minister's stomach is large enough to sail a boat”. It is used to mean “to be extremely magnanimous, tolerant, and broad-minded”.

Where does 宰相肚里好撑船 come from?

宰相肚里好撑船 comes from a classical Chinese story dating back to ancient China. The full story is on this page.

What is the Chinese definition of 宰相肚里好撑船?

谀人肚量大。

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