投桃報李

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Chinese

[edit]
to throw; to send peach
to announce; to inform; report
to announce; to inform; report; newspaper; to repay; to recompense; revenge
 
surname; plum
trad. (投桃報李)
simp. (投桃报李)
Literally: “toss a peach, get back a plum”.

Etymology

[edit]

From the Classic of Poetry, poem 256 (《詩經·大雅·抑》):

[Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
[Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]
From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11th – 7th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version
Tóu wǒ yǐ táo, bào zhī yǐ . [Pinyin]
When one throws to me a peach, I return to him a plum.

Pronunciation

[edit]

Idiom

[edit]

投桃報李

  1. to return a favor; to exchange gifts; you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours.