上行下效 — Chinese idiom

Meaning

• subordinates follow the example of their superiors

Character by character

• 上shàngabove, on top, superior; to go up; to attend; prev
• 行xíngto go, to walk, to move; professional
• 下xiàbelow, underneath; inferior; to bring down; next
• 效xiàoresult, effect; effective

Idioms sharing a character

• 上下其手 shàng xià qí shǒu
• 上天入地 shàng tiān rù dì
• 上当受骗 shàng dàng shòu piàn
• 力争上游 lì zhēng shàng yóu
• 巴高望上 bā gāo wàng shàng
• 引鬼上门 yǐn guǐ shàng mén
• 后来居上 hòu lái jū shàng
• 成千上万 chéng qiān shàng wàn
• 承上起下 chéng shàng qǐ xià
• 拾级而上 shè jí ér shàng

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