好吃懒做

好吃懶做

hàochī-lǎnzuò

idiom

Meanings

HSK 6

他从小好吃懒做，什么本事都没学会。

Tā cóngxiǎo hàochī-lǎnzuò, shénme běnshì dōu méi xuéhuì.

He's been gluttonous and idle since childhood, never picking up any real skill.

HSK 7-9

好吃懒做的人很难在社会上立足。

Hàochī-lǎnzuò de rén hěn nán zài shèhuì shàng lìzú.

A person who loves to eat but won't work has a hard time getting by in society.

history

From Ling Mengchu's 《初刻拍案惊奇》 (late Ming): 这样好吃懒做的淫妇 - the phrase has carried its biting moralism since the late imperial vernacular novel.

mistakes

好 here is hào (to be fond of, like), not hǎo (good). 'Fond-of-eating, lazy-at-doing' - the structure is verb + object, twice.

好 hǎo

吃 chī

懒 lǎn

做 zuò