老鼠偷秤锤,盗铁老鼠偷秤錘,盜鐵老鼠偷秤錘,盜鐵

a mouse steals a scale weight: steals iron (pays out money instead)

Saying俗语俗語

Two-part saying歇后语歇後語 · Rarely used now

Meaning: The party who should be receiving money ends up paying out instead.
Wordplay: 盗 (dào, steal) sounds like 倒 (dào, instead), and 铁 (tiě, iron) is close to 贴 (tiē, to pay out of one's own pocket).

Sign up for a free account to save sentences and hear them read aloud

Simplified: 老鼠偷秤锤,盗铁
Traditional (Taiwan): 老鼠偷秤錘,盜鐵
Pinyin: lǎoshǔ tōu chèngchuí,dào tiě
Bopomofo: ㄌㄠˇ ㄕㄨˇ ㄊㄡㄔㄥˋ ㄔㄨㄟˊ,ㄉㄠˋ ㄊㄧㄝˇ

Written with HSK 7-9 vocabulary, at CEFR level C1.

Words in this sentence

Where this sentence is used

Chinese sayings

Sign up for a free Chinese Boost account

Save the words and sentences you find here to your own list, and hear them read aloud. You can export the list to your flashcards whenever you like.

Create a free account

All Chinese example sentences