东施效颦 — Chinese idiom
东施效颦
Dōng Shī xiào pín
Traditional: 東施效顰
Meaning
- lit. Dong Shi imitates Xi Shi's frown
- fig. to mimick sb's idiosyncrasies but make a fool of oneself
Character by character
- 东Dōngeast, eastern, eastward
- 施Shīto grant, to bestow; to act; surname
- 效xiàoresult, effect; effective
- 颦pínto frown; to knit the brows
Idioms sharing a character
- 付之东流 fù zhī dōng liú
- 只欠东风 zhǐ qiàn dōng fēng
- 各奔东西 gè bèn dōng xī
- 拆东补西 chāi dōng bǔ xī
- 东倒西歪 dōng dǎo xī wāi
- 东兔西乌 dōng tù xī wū
- 东奔西走 dōng bēn xī zǒu
- 东奔西跑 dōng bēn xī pǎo
- 东山再起 dōng shān zài qǐ
- 东张西望 dōng zhāng xī wàng
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3). Retrieved 2026-10-22.