吴市吹箫
wú​shì​chuī​xiāo

to beg on the streets

  • created sense approved 吴市吹箫/吳市吹簫 · wú​shì​chuī​xiāo · to beg on the streets — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    吴市吹箫 / 吳市吹簫

    wú​shì​chuī​xiāo

    to beg on the streets

    (idiom) to beg for food or money in public; to fall into deep poverty or wander about in destitution. This is an allusion to the story of [[伍子胥|伍子胥|wu3 zi3 xu1]] who, while fleeing to the state of Wu, was forced to play the flute to beg for food in the marketplace.

    吴 (literal) → 吴/吳 · wú · Wu region 市 (literal) → 市 · shì · market 吹箫 (literal) → 吹箫/吹簫 · chuī​xiāo · to play the flute

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

    created sense