Free · 19 sayings
Chinese food idioms
吃豆腐 (chī dòufu), “to eat tofu”, means to take liberties with someone. Here it is with the other sayings Chinese makes from food, what their words say and what they mean, each in a sentence with pinyin and sound.
吃醋 · 吃豆腐 · 狗粮 · 吃软饭: love and jealousy
Love is eaten in Chinese: jealousy is vinegar, unwanted hands are a taste of tofu, and a couple’s show of love is dog food for the singles watching.
看到女朋友跟别的男生聊天，他吃醋了。
He got jealous when he saw his girlfriend chatting with another guy.
吃醋 · “eat vinegar”: to be jealous (in love)
他总想吃女同事的豆腐。
He’s always trying to take liberties with the women he works with.
吃豆腐 · “eat tofu”: to take liberties with someone, to grope
他们俩天天在网上撒狗粮。
Those two show off their love online every day.
狗粮 · “dog food”: a couple’s show of love that singles have to watch
他没有工作，一直在吃软饭。
He has no job and lives off his girlfriend.
吃软饭 · “eat soft rice”: to live off a partner (said of a man)
炒鱿鱼 · 铁饭碗 · 吃老本 · 喝西北风: work and money
A job is a rice bowl, losing it is a dish of squid, and when the money runs out there is only the wind to drink.
他上个月被老板炒鱿鱼了。
His boss fired him last month.
炒鱿鱼 · “stir-fry squid”: to fire someone
很多人觉得当公务员是铁饭碗。
Many people see a government job as a job for life.
铁饭碗 · “iron rice bowl”: a secure job for life
他这几年一直在吃老本。
He’s been living off his past success for years.
吃老本 · “eat your old capital”: to live off past success
再不找工作，我们就要喝西北风了。
If we don’t find work soon, we’ll have nothing to eat.
喝西北风 · “drink the north-west wind”: to have nothing to eat
小菜一碟 · 吃苦 · 吃亏 · 吃香 · 吃不消: easy and hard
Easy is a small side dish; hard is eaten too: bitterness, a loss, more than you can digest.
这点儿事对他来说是小菜一碟。
This is a piece of cake for him.
小菜一碟 · “a small side dish”: a piece of cake
她很能吃苦。
She can take a lot of hardship.
吃苦 · “eat bitterness”: to put up with hardship
老实人常常吃亏。
Honest people often lose out.
吃亏 · “eat a loss”: to lose out, to get the worst of it
会说中文的人现在很吃香。
People who speak Chinese are in demand now.
吃香 · “eat fragrant”: to be popular, in demand
每天工作十二个小时，谁都吃不消。
Nobody can take twelve-hour days.
吃不消 · “can’t digest it”: to be too much to bear
吃瓜 · 画饼 · 炒冷饭 · 背黑锅 · 吃闭门羹 · 吃货: gossip, blame and empty promises
Onlookers eat melon, bosses draw cakes, old stories are cold rice fried again, and the blame is a black wok on someone’s back.
网友们都在吃瓜。
Everyone online is watching the drama.
吃瓜 · “eat melon”: to watch drama unfold as a bystander
老板又在给我们画饼了。
The boss is making empty promises again.
画饼 · “draw a cake”: to make empty promises
这部电影就是在炒冷饭。
This film is just a rehash.
炒冷饭 · “fry cold rice”: to rehash old material
明明是他的错，却让我背黑锅。
It was clearly his fault, but I took the blame.
背黑锅 · “carry a black wok on your back”: to take the blame for someone else
我去找他，结果吃了闭门羹。
I went to see him and was turned away at the door.
吃闭门羹 · “eat closed-door soup”: to be turned away at the door
我是个吃货，到哪儿都先找好吃的。
I’m a foodie: wherever I go, I find the good food first.
吃货 · “an eater”: a foodie
Now read them in a real story
What does 吃豆腐 mean?
吃豆腐 (chī dòufu), “to eat tofu”, means to take liberties with someone: to flirt with or touch them when they don’t want it, mostly said of a man with a woman. 别吃我豆腐！ is “Hands off!”, and it is often said half in jest, softer than “harassment” in English. An older meaning is taking advantage of someone at all. Stories of where it comes from tell of a tofu shop whose owner flirted with her customers, but no one knows if they are true.
What does 吃醋 mean?
吃醋 (chīcù), “to eat vinegar”, is to be jealous in love: 你吃醋了？ is “Are you jealous?”. 醋 alone can mean that jealousy too.
What does 炒鱿鱼 mean?
炒鱿鱼 (chǎo yóuyú), “to stir-fry squid”, is to fire someone from a job: 我被炒鱿鱼了 is “I got fired”. It is colloquial, like “got the sack”.
Does 吃 always mean eat?
No. 吃 also means to take, suffer or live on, so many of these sayings are not about food at all: 吃亏 (lose out), 吃苦 (put up with hardship), 吃老本 (live off past success), 吃惊 (be startled) and 吃力 (be hard work).
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Sentences and English ours; meanings from our own dictionary; pinyin from our own reader.