十羊九牧
shí​yáng​jiǔ​mù

too many bosses

  • created sense approved 十羊九牧 · shí​yáng​jiǔ​mù · too many bosses — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    十羊九牧

    shí​yáng​jiǔ​mù

    too many bosses

    Literally ten sheep and nine shepherds; used to describe a situation where there are too many officials or conflicting orders for too few people to follow; excessively bureaucratic.

    十 (literal) → 十 · shí · ten 羊 (literal) → 羊 · yáng · sheep 九 (literal) → 九 · jiǔ · nine 牧 (literal) → 牧 · mù · to govern

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

    created sense