| 潜规则 |
qián guī zé |
unspoken rules (usually ones that codify improper behaviors such as leveraging guanxi to get favorable treatment, or coercing employees for sexual favors) |
| 潜 |
qián |
hidden / secret / latent / to hide / to conceal / to submerge / to dive |
| 规 |
guī |
variant of 规 |
| 规 |
guī |
compass / a rule / regulation / to admonish / to plan / to scheme |
| 规则 |
guī zé |
rule; regulation / regular; orderly; fixed |
| 则 |
zé |
(literary) (conjunction used to express contrast with a previous clause) but; then / (bound form) standard; norm / (bound form) principle / (literary) to imitate; to follow / classifier for written items |