姜太公釣魚，願者上鉤 jiāng tài gōng diào yú ， yuàn zhě shàng gōu

set a bait and let the willing get hooked

Word data

HSK Not in HSK
Frequency Unknown

Definitions

  1. 1. Jiang Ziya is fishing, if you want it, take the hook (idiom, refers to early sage 姜子牙jiāng zǐ yá fishing with no bait and the hook above the water); to put one's head in the noose

Characters

Character Meaning
姜 jiāng
ginger; surname Jiang; variant of 薑jiāng
太 tài HSK 1
too (much); very; extremely
公 gōng HSK 2
public; fair; just
釣 diào
to fish with a hook and bait
魚 yú
fish; surname Yu
願 yuàn
to wish; willing; to hope
者 zhě HSK 3
(after a verb or adjective) one who (is) ...
上 shàng HSK 1
to go up; on top; above
鉤 gōu
hook; to hook; check mark or tick