身在曹營心在漢

Chinese edit

to be located in
 
a company; a class; a generation
a company; a class; a generation; surname
 
army; to deal in; to trade
army; to deal in; to trade; to operate; to run; camp; nourishment; to manage
heart; mind
 
(located) at; in; exist
(located) at; in; exist; (before verbs) immediately involved in; right in the middle of doing
Chinese; name of a dynasty; man
trad. (身在曹營心在漢) 身在
simp. (身在曹营心在汉) 身在

Etymology edit

From Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Literally: (Guan Yu's) body is in Cao Cao's camp, but his heart is with the Han

Pronunciation edit


Idiom edit

身在曹營心在漢

  1. subjugated by one authority, while still remaining loyal to another; not loyal