明码标价
míng mǎ biāo jià
to mark prices clearly
Character by character
明míng
clear
clear
码mǎ
figures
figures
标biāo
mark
mark
价jià
price
price
Example
饭馆的菜都要明码标价，不能等客人吃完了再随便说个价。
A restaurant must mark the price of every dish clearly, not name any figure it likes once the customer has eaten.
Tone: neutral.
Usage and origin
A legal duty for Chinese shops under the Price Law. Figuratively it is used of anything made open and fixed, and critically of things that should never be for sale: 官位被明码标价, government posts sold at a set price.
Learn this in Lesson 61 · HSK 6: 预制菜之争 (The ready-meal debate)
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.
Open the lesson →