民以食為天

Chinese

the people; nationality; citizen
to use; according to; so as to
to use; according to; so as to; in order to; by; with; because; Israel (abbrev.)
 
eat; food; to feed
eat; food; to feed; animal feed
 
because of; for; to
because of; for; to; act as; take...to be; to be; to do; to serve as; to become
 
 day; sky; heaven
trad. (民以食為天/民以食爲天) 民 以 食 為/爲 天
simp. (民以食为天) 民 以 食 为 天

Etymology

Identically from the Book of Han, whose earlier version in the Records of the Grand Historian goes as follows:

王者以民人為天，而民人以食為天。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
王者以民人为天，而民人以食为天。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
From: The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE
Wángzhě yǐ mínrén wèi tiān, ér mínrén yǐ shí wèi tiān. [Pinyin]
To the king the people are "heaven," and to the people food is "heaven" (which is to say, a sine qua non).

Pronunciation

Proverb

民以食為天

  1. People see food as their primary need.
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