民脂民膏 — Chinese idiom

Meaning

• lit. the fat and wealth of the people ; the nation's hard-won wealth (esp. as an object of unscrupulous exploitation)
• the people's blood, sweat and tears

Character by character

• 民míncitizens, subjects; a nation's people
• 脂zhīfat, grease, lard, oil
• 民míncitizens, subjects; a nation's people
• 膏gāogrease, fat; ointment, paste

Idioms sharing a character

• 全民皆兵 quán mín jiē bīng
• 削职为民 xuē zhí wéi mín
• 劳民伤财 láo mín shāng cái
• 升斗小民 shēng dǒu xiǎo mín
• 国弱民穷 guó ruò mín qióng
• 国泰民安 guó tài mín ān
• 国计民生 guó jì mín shēng
• 官逼民反 guān bī mín fǎn
• 吊民伐罪 diào mín fá zuì
• 爱民如子 ài mín rú zǐ

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