既要当婊子又要立牌坊
jì​yào​dāng​biǎo​zi​yòu​yào​lì​pái​fāng

to want to have one's cake and eat it too

  • created sense approved 既要当婊子又要立牌坊/既要當婊子又要立牌坊 · jì​yào​dāng​biǎo​zi​yòu​yào​lì​pái​fāng · to want to have one's cake and eat it too — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    既要当婊子又要立牌坊 / 既要當婊子又要立牌坊

    jì​yào​dāng​biǎo​zi​yòu​yào​lì​pái​fāng

    to want to have one's cake and eat it too

    Literally "to be a prostitute yet still want a monument erected to one's chastity"; describes someone who does bad things or has selfish intentions but still wants to maintain a good reputation.

    既 (literal) → 既 · jì · [both... and...] 要 (literal) → 要 · yào · will 当 (literal) → 当/當 · dāng · to serve as 婊子 (literal) → 婊子 · biǎo​zi · prostitute 又 (literal) → 又 · yòu · both... and... 要 (literal) → 要 · yào · will 立 (literal) → 立 · lì · to establish 牌坊 (literal) → 牌坊 · pái​fāng · memorial archway

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

    created sense