买椟还珠 — Chinese idiom

Meaning

• to buy a wooden box and return the pearls inside
• to show poor judgment

Character by character

• 买mǎito buy, to purchase; to bribe, to persuade
• 椟dúcabinet, closet, wardrobe
• 还huánalso, besides; still, yet; to return
• 珠zhūgem, jewel, pearl, precious stone

Idioms sharing a character

• 千金难买 qiān jīn nán mǎi
• 博士买驴 bó shì mǎi lǘ
• 招兵买马 zhāo bīng mǎi mǎ
• 买笑追欢 mǎi xiào zhuī huān
• 郑人买履 zhèng rén mǎi lǚ
• 乍暖还寒 zhà nuǎn huán hán
• 以眼还眼 yǐ yǎn huán yǎn
• 借尸还魂 jiè shī huán hún
• 告老还乡 gào lǎo huán xiāng
• 衣锦还乡 yī jǐn huán xiāng

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