民以食为天
mín yǐ shí wéi tiān
Pinyin

Definition

民以食为天
 - 
mín yǐ shí wéi tiān
  1. Food is the God of the people. (idiom); People view food as the primary need.
  2. Food first, ethical niceties second

Character Decomposition

Related Words (20)

以
yǐ
  1. 1 old variant of 以[yǐ]
今天
jīn tiān
  1. 1 today
  2. 2 at the present
  3. 3 now
以后
yǐ hòu
  1. 1 after
  2. 2 later
  3. 3 afterwards
  4. 4 following
  5. 5 later on
  6. 6 in the future
以为
yǐ wéi
  1. 1 to think (i.e. to take it to be true that ...) (Usually there is an implication that the notion is mistaken – except when expressing one's own current opinion.)
可以
kě yǐ
  1. 1 can
  2. 2 may
  3. 3 possible
  4. 4 able to
  5. 5 not bad
  6. 6 pretty good
天
tiān
  1. 1 day
  2. 2 sky
  3. 3 heaven
天下
tiān xià
  1. 1 land under heaven
  2. 2 the whole world
  3. 3 the whole of China
  4. 4 realm
  5. 5 rule
天天
tiān tiān
  1. 1 every day
天气
tiān qì
  1. 1 weather
所以
suǒ yǐ
  1. 1 therefore
  2. 2 as a result
  3. 3 so
  4. 4 the reason why
明天
míng tiān
  1. 1 tomorrow
昨天
zuó tiān
  1. 1 yesterday
上天
shàng tiān
  1. 1 Heaven
  2. 2 Providence
  3. 3 God
  4. 4 the day before
  5. 5 the sky above
  6. 6 to fly to the sky
  7. 7 to take off and fly into space
  8. 8 to die
  9. 9 to pass away
中天
zhōng tiān
  1. 1 culmination (astronomy)
主食
zhǔ shí
  1. 1 main food
  2. 2 staple (rice and noodles)
之所以
zhī suǒ yǐ
  1. 1 the reason why
人民
rén mín
  1. 1 the people
  2. 2 CL:個|个[gè]
人民币
rén mín bì
  1. 1 Renminbi (RMB)
  2. 2 Chinese Yuan (CNY)
以上
yǐ shàng
  1. 1 that level or higher
  2. 2 that amount or more
  3. 3 the above-mentioned
  4. 4 (used to indicate that one has completed one's remarks) That is all.
以下
yǐ xià
  1. 1 that level or lower
  2. 2 that amount or less
  3. 3 the following

Idioms (20)

一人得道，鸡犬升天
yī rén dé dào , jī quǎn shēng tiān
  1. 1 lit. when a man achieves the Dao, his poultry and dogs rise to Heaven (idiom)
  2. 2 fig. to ride on sb else's success
  3. 3 Once one man gets a government position, all his cronies get in too
  4. 4 Once sb has cracked the problem, every Tom, Dick and Harry can do it
一个天南，一个地北
yī ge tiān nán , yī ge dì běi
  1. 1 to live miles apart (idiom)
一则以喜，一则以忧
yī zé yǐ xǐ , yī zé yǐ yōu
  1. 1 happy on the one hand, but worried on the other (idiom)
一柱擎天
yī zhù qíng tiān
  1. 1 lit. to support the sky as a single pillar (idiom)
  2. 2 fig. to take a crucial responsibility upon one's shoulders
一步登天
yī bù dēng tiān
  1. 1 reaching heaven in a single bound (idiom); (esp. with negative: don't expect) instant success
一言以蔽之
yī yán yǐ bì zhī
  1. 1 one word says it all (idiom, from Analects); to cut a long story short
  2. 2 in a nutshell
三天不打，上房揭瓦
sān tiān bù dǎ , shàng fáng jiē wǎ
  1. 1 three days without a beating, and a child will scale the roof to rip the tiles (idiom)
  2. 2 spare the rod, spoil the child
三天两头
sān tiān liǎng tóu
  1. 1 lit. twice every three days (idiom); practically every day
  2. 2 frequently
三旬九食
sān xún jiǔ shí
  1. 1 lit. to have only nine meals in thirty days (idiom)
  2. 2 fig. (of a family) on the brink of starvation
  3. 3 in dire straits
上天入地
shàng tiān rù dì
  1. 1 lit. to go up to heaven or down to Hades (idiom)
  2. 2 fig. to go to great lengths
  3. 3 to search heaven and earth
上天无路，入地无门
shàng tiān wú lù , rù dì wú mén
  1. 1 lit. there is no road to the sky, nor door into the earth (idiom)
  2. 2 fig. to be at the end of one's rope
  3. 3 to be trapped in a hopeless situation
上有天堂，下有苏杭
shàng yǒu tiān táng , xià yǒu Sū Háng
  1. 1 lit. there is heaven above, and there is 蘇杭|苏杭[Sū Háng] below (idiom)
  2. 2 fig. the beauty and affluence of Suzhou and Hangzhou is comparable with heaven
不以人废言
bù yǐ rén fèi yán
  1. 1 not to reject a word because of the speaker (idiom, from Analects); to judge on the merits of the case rather than preference between advisers
不以为然
bù yǐ wéi rán
  1. 1 not to accept as correct (idiom); to object
  2. 2 to disapprove
  3. 3 to take exception to
不以规矩，不能成方圆
bù yǐ guī ju , bù néng chéng fāng yuán
  1. 1 without rules, nothing can be done (idiom, from Mencius); one must follow some rules
不以词害志
bù yǐ cí hài zhì
  1. 1 don't let rhetoric spoil the message (idiom); don't get carried away with flowery speech to the detriment of what you want to say
不以辞害志
bù yǐ cí hài zhì
  1. 1 don't let rhetoric spoil the message (idiom); don't get carried away with flowery speech to the detriment of what you want to say
不啻天渊
bù chì tiān yuān
  1. 1 no less than from heaven to the abyss (idiom); differing widely
  2. 2 worlds apart
  3. 3 the gap couldn't be bigger
不终天年
bù zhōng tiān nián
  1. 1 to die before one's allotted lifespan has run its course (idiom)
不见天日
bù jiàn tiān rì
  1. 1 all black, no daylight (idiom); a world without justice

Sample Sentences

欢迎收看“天下美食”！我们的两位美食家可以说是过五关斩六将，来到今天的节目。中国有句老话，叫“民以食为天”。不过不同地区的人对吃都有自己特别的讲究。所以今天，我们就要来考考两位对中国八大菜系有多了解。来，欢迎两位！
huānyíng shōukān “tiānxiàměishí ”！wǒmen de liǎng wèi měishíjiā kěyǐ shuō shì guòwǔguānzhǎnliùjiàng ，láidào jīntiān de jiémù 。Zhōngguó yǒu jù lǎohuà ，jiào “mínyǐshíwèitiān ”。bùguò bùtóng dìqū de rén duì chī dōu yǒu zìjǐ tèbié de jiǎngjiù 。suǒyǐ jīntiān ，wǒmen jiùyào lái kǎokǎo liǎngwèi duì Zhōngguó bā dà càixì yǒu duō liǎojiě 。lái ，huānyíng liǎng wèi ！
Welcome to ''Delicacies of the World"! We can safely say that they have triumphed over many foes to come to our show today.There's an old proverb in China, ''Food is everything to people." But people from different areas all have their own ideas about food. So today we're going to test these two on their understanding of China's eight great schools of cuisine. Come on, give them a warm welcome!
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民以食为天。
mínyǐshíwéitiān 。
Everyone's got to eat.
Go to Lesson 
哎！民以食为天。这天天吃饭的家伙还是得买个好的。走，咱们上网搜搜去。
āi ！mínyǐshíwéitiān 。zhè tiāntiān chīfàn de jiāhuo háishì děi mǎi ge hǎo de 。zǒu ，zánmen shàngwǎng sōu sou qù 。
Hey, rice is essential. For something you cook with every day, you'd better buy a good one. Come on, let's search online.
Go to Lesson 
中国人讲究“民以食为天”，一般家里有重要的喜事就会请客，让亲戚朋友们分享好消息，顺便联络感情。不过一般只有整岁，比如10岁、20岁、50岁的生日才会大肆庆祝一番，普通的生日只是跟家人们一起小小地庆祝。我记得我10岁生日的时候好像就请了十几桌呢。
zhōngguórén jiǎngjiù “mínyǐshíwéitiān ”，yībān jiālǐ yǒu zhòngyào de xǐshì jiù huì qǐngkè ，ràng qīnqīpéngyǒumen fēnxiǎng hǎo xiāoxi ，shùnbiàn liánluò gǎnqíng 。bùguò yībān zhǐyǒu zhěng suì ，bǐrú shí suì 、èrshí suì 、wǔshí suì de shēngrì cái huì dàsì qìngzhù yīfān ，pǔtōng de shēngrì zhǐshì gēn jiārénmen yīqǐ xiǎoxiǎo de qìngzhù 。wǒ jìde wǒ shí suì shēngrì de shíhou hǎoxiàng jiù qǐng le shíjǐ zhuō ne 。
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