蠖屈求伸
huò​qū​qiú​shēn

to bide one's time

  • created sense approved 蠖屈求伸 · huò​qū​qiú​shēn · to bide one's time — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    蠖屈求伸

    huò​qū​qiú​shēn

    to bide one's time

    to yield or humble oneself for a time in order to achieve greatness later; literally, to bend like a looper caterpillar to prepare for a forward stretch

    蠖屈 (literal) → 蠖屈 · huò​qū · to humble oneself 求 (literal) → 求 · qiú · to seek 伸 (literal) → 伸 · shēn · to stretch

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

    created sense