越俎代庖
Chinese edit
to exceed; to climb over; to surpass to exceed; to climb over; to surpass; the more ... the more |
a stand for food at sacrifice | to do others' job for them; to act in the place of others | ||
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simp. and trad. (越俎代庖) |
越 | 俎 | 代庖 | |
Literally: “(the priest) leave his cups and takes the place of the cook”. |
Etymology edit
From Zhuangzi:
- 庖人雖不治庖,尸祝不越樽俎而代之矣。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
- From: Zhuangzi, circa 3rd – 2nd centuries BCE
- Páorén suī bù zhìpáo, shīzhù bù yuè zūnzǔ ér dài zhī yǐ. [Pinyin]
- Though the cook were not attending to his kitchen, the representative of the dead and the officer of prayer would not leave their cups and stands to take his place.
庖人虽不治庖,尸祝不越樽俎而代之矣。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
Pronunciation edit
Idiom edit
越俎代庖