rén wéi dāo zǔ , wǒ wéi yú ròu

Traditional: 人為刀俎，我為魚肉

人为刀俎，我为鱼肉 (rén wéi dāo zǔ , wǒ wéi yú ròu) is a Chinese word meaning “lit. to be the meat on sb's chopping block (idiom); fig. to be at sb's mercy”.

Meanings

  1. 1lit. to be the meat on sb's chopping block (idiom)
  2. 2fig. to be at sb's mercy

Characters in 人为刀俎，我为鱼肉

人rén · person; people为wéi · as (in the capacity of)刀dāo · knife; blade; single-edged sword; cutlass (CL:把[ba3])俎zǔ · a stand for food at sacrifice我wǒ · I; me; my为wéi · as (in the capacity of)鱼yú · fish (CL:條|条[tiao2],尾[wei3])肉ròu · meat

Related words

我I; me; my我们we; us; ourselves; our人person; people因为because; owing to; on account of为什么why?为as (in the capacity of)为because of为variant of 為|为[wei2]为variant of 為|为[wei4]认为to believe; to think; to consider; to feel为了for; for the purpose of; in order to以为to think; to believe (often with the implication that the belief is mistaken – unless referring to one's own current belief)

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