宁做鸡头，不做凤尾 in English ning4 zuo4 ji1 tou2 , bu4 zuo4 feng4 wei3 Meaning

Meanings

  • literally (word for word) would rather be a chicken's head than a phoenix's tail (idiomatic expression)
  • metaphorically to prefer to be a big fish in a small pond rather than a small fish in a big pond

Simplified Characters

宁 做 鸡 头 ， 不 做 凤 尾

Traditional Characters

寧 做 雞 頭 ， 不 做 鳳 尾

Pinyin

ning4 zuo4 ji1 tou2 , bu4 zuo4 feng4 wei3

Literal

Literal explanation, with pronunciation and meaning of each character.

宁ning2to store 做zuo4to do 鸡ji1fowl 头tou2head ， 不bu4(negative prefix) 做zuo4to do 凤feng4surname Feng 尾wei3tail