| 蟾宫折桂 |
chán gōng zhé guì |
lit. plucking a branch of osmanthus from the Toad Palace (i.e. the moon) / fig. to succeed in the imperial examination |
| 蟾 |
chán |
toad ("chán" represents the sound of its croaking) / (mythology) the three-legged toad said to exist in the moon / (metonym) the moon |
| 宫 |
Gōng |
surname Gong |
| 宫 |
gōng |
palace / temple / castration (as corporal punishment) / first note in pentatonic scale |
| 折 |
shé |
to snap / to break (a stick, a bone etc) / (bound form) to sustain a loss (in business) |
| 折 |
zhē |
to turn sth over / to turn upside down / to tip sth out (of a container) |
| 折 |
zhé |
to break / to fracture / to snap / to suffer loss / to bend / to twist / to turn / to change direction / convinced / to convert into (currency) / discount / rebate / tenth (in price) / classifier for theatrical scenes / to fold / accounts book |
| 折 |
zhé |
variant of 折 / to fold |
| 折桂 |
zhé guì |
to win the laurels / to pass an imperial examination / to win a championship |
| 桂 |
Guì |
surname Gui / abbr. for Guangxi Autonomous Region 广西壮族自治区 |
| 桂 |
guì |
cassia / laurel |