溜须拍马

liū xū pāi mǎ

to suck up to someone

Character by character

溜liū
stroke

须xū
beard

拍pāi
pat

马mǎ
horse

他不靠能力，靠溜须拍马才升了职。

He got promoted by sucking up, not by ability.

Tone: negative (criticism).

The everyday version is 拍马屁.

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