媚灶
mèi​zào

to seek the favor of a powerful minister

  • created sense approved 媚灶 · mèi​zào · to seek the favor of a powerful minister — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    媚灶

    mèi​zào

    to seek the favor of a powerful minister

    To curry favor with or flatter a powerful official; based on a metaphor from the Analects of Confucius suggesting it is more practical to be on good terms with the kitchen god (the source of food) than the inner household god of the house.

    媚 (literal) → 媚 · mèi · to flatter 灶 (literal) → 灶 · zào · Kitchen God

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

    created sense