因噎废食 in English yin1 ye1 fei4 shi2 Meaning

Meanings

  • literally (word for word) not eating for fear of choking (idiomatic expression); metaphorically to cut off one's nose to spite one's face
  • to avoid sth essential because of a slight risk

Simplified Characters

因 噎 废 食

Traditional Characters

因 噎 廢 食

Pinyin

yin1 ye1 fei4 shi2

Literal

Literal explanation, with pronunciation and meaning of each character.

因yin1old variant of 因[yin1] 噎ye1to choke (on) 废fei4to abolish 食shi2to eat