to put one's hands behind one's head, fingers interlaced / to hold one's head in one's hands (in dismay, fright etc) / to cover one's head with one's hands (for protection)
lit. even a submissive daughter-in-law will one day become a domineering mother-in-law (idiom) / fig. the oppressed will become the oppressor / what goes around comes around
to erect (a tent etc) / to prick up (one's ears) / to raise (one's eyebrows) / to stick up (one's thumb) / to turn up (one's collar) / (of a bird) to puff up (one's feathers)
to change one's tune / to modify one's previous remark / to change the way one addresses sb (as when one marries and starts to call one's husband's parents 爸爸[ba4 ba5] and 媽媽|妈妈[ma1 ma5])
one's age, according to the traditional Chinese method of reckoning (i.e. the number of Chinese calendar years in which one has lived) – In this system, a person's age at birth is one, and increases by one at the beginning of the first solar term 立春[Li4 chun1] each year, rather than on one's birthday. / contrasted with 實歲|实岁[shi2 sui4]
(a line from a poem by the Tang poet Liu Yuxi 劉禹錫|刘禹锡[Liu2 Yu3 xi1]) one gains very little insight into one's enemy from a hundred victories, but he who breaks his arm three times will be a good doctor / (fig.) one learns more from one's failures than from one's successes
lit. source is distant and the flow is long (idiom) / fig. sth goes back to the dim and distant past / a lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then
chaff, husks, distillers' dregs etc (food eaten by the poor) / (fig.) rubbish / junk / (abbr. for 糟糠妻[zao1 kang1 qi1]) wife who goes through the hardships of poverty with her husband
lit. set out and it becomes spring (idiom) / to effect a miracle cure (of medical operation) / to bring back the dead / once it starts, everything goes well
only have ... / there is only ... / (used in combination with 才[cai2]) it is only if one ... (that one can ...) (Example: 只有通過治療才能痊愈|只有通过治疗才能痊愈[zhi3 you3 tong1 guo4 zhi4 liao2 cai2 neng2 quan2 yu4] "the only way to cure it is with therapy") / it is only ... (who ...) (Example: 只有男性才有此需要[zhi3 you3 nan2 xing4 cai2 you3 ci3 xu1 yao4] "only men would have such a requirement") / (used to indicate that one has no alternative) one can only (do a certain thing) (Example: 只有屈服[zhi3 you3 qu1 fu2] "the only thing you can do is give in")
to belong to / to be affiliated to / to fall under the jurisdiction of / a place where one feels that one belongs / one's final destination (where one need look no further)
(of alcohol, love etc) to go to one’s head / (of an idea, a song etc) to get into one's head / to capture one's attention / (old) (of a girl on her wedding day) to start wearing one's hair in a bun (rather than a plait)
lit. to hope one's son becomes a dragon (idiom) / fig. to long for one' s child to succeed in life / to have great hopes for one's offspring / to give one's child the best education as a career investment
Confucian moral injunctions of fidelity / piety to one's parents, respect to one's older brother, loyalty to one's monarch, faith to one's male friends
lit. viewing the sky with a basin on one's head / it is hard to get a clear view of the sky while carrying a platter on one's head / fig. it is hard to get on in one's career while encumbered by family obligations / one can't perform a major task while bothered by other duties
four Confucian injunctions 孝悌忠信 (for men), namely: piety 孝 to one's parents, respect 悌 to one's older brother, loyalty 忠 to one's monarch, faith 信 to one's male friends / the four Confucian virtues for women of morality 德[de2], physical charm 容, propriety in speech 言 and efficiency in needlework 功
(idiom) as one climbs higher on the path of righteousness, one faces ever greater challenges from evil / no sooner does one overcome one obstacle than another arises
to bend to a task and spare no effort unto one's dying day (idiom) / striving to the utmost one's whole life / with every breath in one's body, unto one's dying day
lit. only one end of the barber's pole is hot (idiom) / fig. one-sided enthusiasm / one party is interested, but the other, not so much / (Note: In former days, street barbers carried their equipment on a pole, with tools and a stool at one end and a brazier at the other.)
lit. to eat meat from one's bowl, then put down one's chopsticks and scold one's mother (idiom) / fig. to complain despite being privileged / to be ungrateful for what one has been given
one's affiliation (i.e. the organization one is affiliated with) / subordinate (i.e. those subordinate to oneself) / belonging to / affiliated / under one's command
of / ~'s (possessive particle) / (used after an attribute when it modifies a noun) / (used at the end of a declarative sentence for emphasis) / (used after a noun, verb or adjective to form a nominal expression, as in 皮革的[pi2ge2 de5] "one made of leather" or 跑堂兒的|跑堂儿的[pao3tang2r5de5] "a waiter (literally, one who runs back and forth in a restaurant)" or 新的[xin1 de5] "new one") / also pr. [di4] or [di5] in poetry and songs
(idiom) (of one's circumstances) beyond one's control / unable to do anything about it / (of one's actions) not subject to conscious control (i.e. done in spite of oneself)
lit. to fly one's banner on a solitary tree (idiom) / fig. to act as a loner / to stand out / to develop one's own school / to have attitude of one's own
(TV or movie) blooper / continuity error / (theater) to flub one's lines / unintended exposure of a body part / to be exposed (of a scheme or trick) / to reveal sth one intended to conceal through a slip of the tongue / to blow one's cover
lit. an easy drive on a familiar path (idiom) / fig. experience makes progress easy / a task that is so familiar one can do it with one's hand tied behind one's back
constellation (arch., now 星座) / one of the 28 constellations of traditional Chinese astronomy and astrology / motion of stars since one's birth (predetermining one's fate in astrology)
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