民以食為天 Save Sign in to save words Simplified: 民以食为天 mínyǐshíwéitiān ㄇㄧㄣˊ ㄧˇ ㄕˊ ㄨㄟˊ ㄊㄧㄢ Food is the God of the people. (idiom) People view food as the primary need. Food first, ethical niceties second Character by character 民(mín)surname Min 以(yǐ)use 食(shí)eat 為(wéi)as (in the capacity of) 天(tiān)day A Chinese word or character, or English Search Sources CC-CEDICT, CC BY-SA 4.0 pinyinjs, Apache-2.0