宁做鸡头，不做凤尾

Traditional: 寧做雞頭，不做鳳尾

nìng zuò jī tóu , bù zuò fèng wěi

Dictionary entry

lit. would rather be a chicken's head than a phoenix's tail (idiom)

What does 宁做鸡头，不做凤尾 mean?

宁做鸡头，不做凤尾 (nìng zuò jī tóu , bù zuò fèng wěi) has the following dictionary meaning.

1lit. would rather be a chicken's head than a phoenix's tail (idiom)

2fig. to prefer to be a big fish in a small pond rather than a small fish in a big pond

Character breakdown

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宁nìngold variant of 寧|宁[ning4]做zuòto make; to produce · to write; to compose 鸡jīfowl · chicken 头tóuhead · hair style 不bùno; not so · (bound form) not; un-凤Fèngsurname Feng 尾wěitail · remainder

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How to pronounce 宁做鸡头，不做凤尾

宁做鸡头，不做凤尾

nìng zuò jī tóu , bù zuò fèng wěi

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Base dictionary data: CC-CEDICT · CC BY-SA 4.0.