摇尾乞怜 — Chinese idiom

Meaning

• lit. to behave like a dog wagging its tail, seeking its master's affection
• fig. to fawn on sb
• to bow and scrape
• to grovel

Character by character

• 摇yáoto rock, to shake; to swing, to wave
• 尾wěitail; extremity, end; back, rear
• 乞qǐto beg; to request
• 怜liánto pity, to sympathize with

Idioms sharing a character

• 地动山摇 dì dòng shān yáo
• 招摇撞骗 zhāo yáo zhuàng piàn
• 招摇过市 zhāo yáo guò shì
• 摇旗呐喊 yáo qí nà hǎn
• 摇头摆尾 yáo tóu bǎi wěi
• 东摇西摆 dōng yáo xī bǎi
• 风雨飘摇 fēng yǔ piāo yáo
• 吴头楚尾 Wú tóu Chǔ wěi
• 尾大不掉 wěi dà bù diào
• 彻头彻尾 chè tóu chè wěi

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