养家糊口
yǎng jiā hú kǒu
to earn enough to feed the family
Character by character
养yǎng
support
support
家jiā
family
family
糊hú
gruel
gruel
口kǒu
mouth
mouth
Example
他白天送快递，晚上开网约车，就为了养家糊口。
He delivers parcels by day and drives for a ride-hailing app at night, just to keep his family fed.
Tone: neutral.
Usage and origin
糊 (originally 餬) is to eat gruel: 糊口 is to keep the mouth fed with porridge, to scrape a living. It sounds modest, even weary: a job that only 养家糊口 pays the bills and nothing more.
Learn this in Lesson 113 · HSK 7–9: 育儿补贴来了 (Livelihood news: the new childcare subsidy)
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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