上梁不正下梁歪
shàng​liáng​bù​zhèng​xià​liáng​wāi

bad superiors produce bad subordinates

  • created sense approved 上梁不正下梁歪 · shàng​liáng​bù​zhèng​xià​liáng​wāi · bad superiors produce bad subordinates — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    上梁不正下梁歪

    shàng​liáng​bù​zhèng​xià​liáng​wāi

    bad superiors produce bad subordinates

    Literally means if the upper beam is not straight, the lower beam will be crooked; used as an idiom to describe how the bad behavior of leaders or elders influences their subordinates or the younger generation.

    shàng​liáng​bú​zhèng​xià​liáng​wāi

    上梁 (literal) → 上梁 · shàng​liáng · upper beam 不正 (literal) → 不正 · bù​zhèng · dishonest 下 (literal) → 下 · xià · inferior 梁 (literal) → 梁 · liáng · beam 歪 (literal) → 歪 · wāi · crooked

    Changed: simplified, traditional, gloss, definition, pinyin, variant pinyin, variants, separable parts, decomposition

    created sense