抱残守缺 — Chinese idiom
抱残守缺
bào cán shǒu quē
Traditional: 抱殘守缺
Meaning
- to cherish the outmoded and preserve the outworn ; conservative
- stickler for tradition
Character by character
- 抱bàoto embrace, to hold in one's arms; to enfold
- 残cánto injure, to ruin, to spoil; cruel, oppressive, s
- 守shǒuto defend, to guard, to protect; to conserve; to w
- 缺quēto lack, to be short; vacancy, gap, deficit
Idioms sharing a character
- 左拥右抱 zuǒ yōng yòu bào
- 打抱不平 dǎ bào bù píng
- 抱恨终天 bào hèn zhōng tiān
- 抱恨黄泉 bào hèn huáng quán
- 抱薪救火 bào xīn jiù huǒ
- 抱头鼠窜 bào tóu shǔ cuàn
- 收残缀轶 shōu cán zhuì yì
- 断壁残垣 duàn bì cán yuán
- 残兵败将 cán bīng bài jiàng
- 残年短景 cán nián duǎn jǐng
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3). Retrieved 2026-10-22.