天上不会掉馅饼
tiān​shàng​bù​huì​diào​xiàn​bǐng

there is no such thing as a free lunch

  • created sense approved 天上不会掉馅饼/天上不會掉餡餅 · tiān​shàng​bù​huì​diào​xiàn​bǐng · there is no such thing as a free lunch — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    天上不会掉馅饼 / 天上不會掉餡餅

    tiān​shàng​bù​huì​diào​xiàn​bǐng

    there is no such thing as a free lunch

    literally "meat pies do not fall from the sky"; used to mean that nothing is achieved or gained without effort or cost

    天上 (literal) → 天上 · tiān​shàng · sky 不会 (literal) → 不会/不會 · bù​huì · will not 掉 (literal) → 掉 · diào · to fall 馅饼 (literal) → 馅饼/餡餅 · xiàn​bǐng · pie

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

    created sense