独善其身 — Chinese idiom
独善其身
dú shàn qí shēn
Traditional: 獨善其身
Meaning
- (originally, in Mencius) to cultivate one's moral character in solitude; (modern sense) to look after only one's own interests
Character by character
- 独dúalone, independent, only, single, solitary
- 善shàngood, virtuous, charitable, kind
- 其qíhis, her, its, their; that
- 身shēnbody, torso; person; pregnancy
Idioms sharing a character
- 一枝独秀 yī zhī dú xiù
- 匠心独运 jiàng xīn dú yùn
- 单打独斗 dān dǎ dú dòu
- 孤独于世 gū dú yú shì
- 得天独厚 dé tiān dú hòu
- 民贼独夫 mín zéi dú fū
- 独一无二 dú yī wú èr
- 独来独往 dú lái dú wǎng
- 独具匠心 dú jù jiàng xīn
- 独具只眼 dú jù zhī yǎn
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3). Retrieved 2026-10-22.