敲門磚 qiāo mén zhuān

stepping stone to a job or success

Word data

HSK Not in HSK
Frequency Unknown

Definitions

  1. 1. lit. a brick as a door knocker (idiom); fig. a temporary expedient
  2. 2. to use sb as a stepping stone to fortune

Characters

Character Meaning
敲 qiāo HSK 4
to knock; to tap; to strike
門 mén
door; gate; doorway
磚 zhuān
brick; variant of 磚zhuān; variant of 甎zhuān