明哲保身 — Chinese idiom
明哲保身
míng zhé bǎo shēn
Meaning
- a wise man looks after his own hide
- to put one's own safety before matters of principle
Character by character
- 明míngbright, clear; to explain, to understand, to shed
- 哲zhéwise, sagacious; wise man; philosopher
- 保bǎoto safeguard, to protect, to defend, to care for
- 身shēnbody, torso; person; pregnancy
Idioms sharing a character
- 不明不白 bù míng bù bái
- 不明事理 bù míng shì lǐ
- 不言自明 bù yán zì míng
- 事后聪明 shì hòu cōng ming
- 以资证明 yǐ zī zhèng míng
- 来历不明 lái lì bù míng
- 光明磊落 guāng míng lěi luò
- 冰雪聪明 bīng xuě cōng ming
- 另请高明 lìng qǐng gāo míng
- 奉若神明 fèng ruò shén míng
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3). Retrieved 2026-10-22.