to enjoy the benefits of the hard work of one's predecessors. (idiom)
trad. 前人栽樹，後人乘涼
Also written 前人栽樹，後人乘涼【qián rén zāi shù , hòu rén chéng liáng】
Characters in this word
7前
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
front, forward, ahead, first, top (followed by a number), future, ago, before, BC (e.g. 前293年), former, formerly
- Pinyin
- qián
- Strokes
- 9
- Frequency
- 256 of 2500
人
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
person; people, CL:個|个[ge4],位[wei4],名[ming2]
- Pinyin
- rén
- Strokes
- 2
- Frequency
- 30 of 2500
栽
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
to plant; to grow, to insert; to erect (e.g. a bus stop sign), to impose sth on sb, to stumble; to fall down
- Pinyin
- zāi
- Strokes
- 10
- Frequency
- 20437 of 2500
树
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
tree, CL:棵[ke1], to cultivate, to set up
- Pinyin
- shù
- Traditional
- 樹
- Strokes
- 9
- Frequency
- 2862 of 2500
后
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
surname Hou
- Pinyin
- Hòu
- Strokes
- 6
- Frequency
- 233 of 2500
乘
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
surname Cheng
- Pinyin
- Chéng
- Strokes
- 10
- Frequency
- 6191 of 2500
凉
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
the five Liang of the Sixteen Kingdoms, namely: Former Liang 前涼|前凉 (314-376), Later Liang 後涼|后凉 (386-403), Northern Liang 北涼|北凉 (398-439), Southern Liang 南涼|南凉[Nan2 Liang2] (397-414), Western Liang 西涼|西凉 (400-421)
- Pinyin
- Liáng
- Traditional
- 涼
- Strokes
- 10
- Frequency
- 7814 of 2500