百足之虫死而不僵
bǎi​zú​zhī​chóng​sǐ'ér​bù​jiāng

old institutions die hard

  • created sense approved 百足之虫死而不僵/百足之蟲死而不僵 · bǎi​zú​zhī​chóng​sǐ'ér​bù​jiāng · old institutions die hard — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    百足之虫死而不僵 / 百足之蟲死而不僵

    bǎi​zú​zhī​chóng​sǐ'ér​bù​jiāng

    old institutions die hard

    Literally "a centipede with a hundred feet does not tip over even when dead"; describes a powerful person or institution whose influence lingers even after their downfall or death.

    百足之虫 (literal) → 百足之虫/百足之蟲 · bǎi​zú​zhī​chóng · centipede 死而不僵 (literal) → 死而不僵 · sǐ'ér​bù​jiāng · dead but not stiff

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

    created sense