寧欺白鬚公,莫欺少年窮

Chinese

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peaceful; rather; Ningxia (abbrev.) take unfair advantage of; to deceive; to cheat
just; honourable; public
just; honourable; public; common; fair; duke; mister
 
do not; there is none who take unfair advantage of; to deceive; to cheat early youth; juvenile; youngster exhausted; poor
trad. (寧欺白鬚公,莫欺少年窮) 白鬚 少年
simp. (宁欺白须公,莫欺少年穷) 白须 少年

Etymology

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Originally Cantonese. First attested in the vernacular novel 廿載繁華夢 by Huang Shizhong (黃世仲黄世仲) from Panyu, Guangdong.

Pronunciation

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Proverb

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寧欺白鬚公,莫欺少年窮

  1. Do not look down on a young person for being poor