







拉东补西 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to borrow from Peter to pay Paul”. To constantly shift funds or resources to barely cover existing debts or deficiencies. Literally, “To pull from the east to mend the west”.

Turn a Chinese character or sentence into a GIF or MP4
Open the tool →
Printable tracing sheets with a QR learning companion
Open the tool →
Picture and word Bingo for your class
Open the tool →
Create PNGs with pinyin, highlight character parts or remove strokes
Open the tool →拉东补西 (lā dōng bǔ xī) is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to borrow from Peter to pay Paul”.
拉东补西 is pronounced lā dōng bǔ xī in Mandarin Chinese.
Literally, 拉东补西 means “to pull from the east to mend the west”. It is used to mean “to borrow from Peter to pay Paul”.
多指欠债,借东家还西家,左支右绌