量入为出 — Chinese idiom

Meaning

• to assess one's income and spend accordingly ; to live within one's means
• You can only spend what you earn.

Character by character

• 量liàngmeasure, volume; amount, quantity
• 入rùto enter, to come in; to join
• 为wéito do, to act; to handle, to govern; to be
• 出chūto go out, to send out; stand; produce

Idioms sharing a character

• 不自量力 bù zì liàng lì
• 功德无量 gōng dé wú liàng
• 宽宏大量 kuān hóng dà liàng
• 有商有量 yǒu shāng yǒu liàng
• 量力而行 liàng lì ér xíng
• 量才录用 liàng cái lù yòng
• 量体裁衣 liàng tǐ cái yī
• 一拥而入 yī yōng ér rù
• 上天入地 shàng tiān rù dì
• 不堪入耳 bù kān rù ěr

Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3). Retrieved 2026-10-22.