东拼西凑
dōng pīn xī còu
to scrape together from here and there; to patch together
Character by character
东dōng
east
east
拼pīn
patch
patch
西xī
west
west
凑còu
piece
piece
Example
这篇论文是从网上东拼西凑来的，一查重就被发现了。
This paper was patched together from bits found online, and the plagiarism check caught it at once.
Tone: negative (criticism).
Usage and origin
Of plagiarised or slapdash writing, and also of scraping money together: 东拼西凑才凑够了首付 (he scraped together the deposit from everywhere he could). The 拼 and 凑 of the two halves both mean “to piece together”.
Learn this in Lesson 254 · HSK 9+: 一本书的诞生 (How a book is made)
A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.
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