老蠶作繭
lǎo​cán​zuò​jiǎn

toiling in old age

  • created sense approved 老蚕作茧/老蠶作繭 · lǎo​cán​zuò​jiǎn · toiling in old age — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    老蚕作茧 / 老蠶作繭

    lǎo​cán​zuò​jiǎn

    toiling in old age

    Describes an elderly person who continues to work hard and lead a busy, exhausting life without leisure or rest; literally 'an old silkworm spinning a cocoon'.

    老 (literal) → 老 · lǎo · old 蚕 (literal) → 蚕/蠶 · cán · silkworm 作茧 (literal) → 作茧/作繭 · zuò​jiǎn · to spin a cocoon

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

    created sense