橘逾淮而北为枳 / 橘逾淮而北為枳

jú​yú​huái'ér​běi​wéi​zhǐ

influence of environment

tangerines grown north of the Huai River turn into bitter trifoliate oranges; a metaphor for how environment changes the nature of things

橘 (literal) → 橘 · jú · tangerine 逾 (literal) → 逾 · yú · to exceed 淮 (literal) → 淮 · huái · Huai River 而 (literal) → 而 · ér · [adverbial linker] 北 (literal) → 北 · běi · north 为 (literal) → 为/為 · wéi · to be 枳 (literal) → 枳 · zhǐ · trifoliate orange

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

created sense May 20, 2026, 07:58 PM