打狗看主人
dǎ​gǒu​kàn​zhǔ​rén

to refrain from bullying someone out of fear of their connections

  • created sense approved 打狗看主人 · dǎ​gǒu​kàn​zhǔ​rén · to refrain from bullying someone out of fear of their connections — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    打狗看主人

    dǎ​gǒu​kàn​zhǔ​rén

    to refrain from bullying someone out of fear of their connections

    Literally "to look at the master before hitting the dog"; to take into account someone's powerful connections or the face of their superior before acting against them.

    打 (literal) → 打 · dǎ · to hit 狗 (literal) → 狗 · gǒu · dog 看 (literal) → 看 · kàn · to see 主人 (literal) → 主人 · zhǔ​rén · owner

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

    created sense