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