To trust to luck instead of working for it
The gap between those first two lines is the whole point of a chengyu. It is quoted whole, never assembled, and the literal reading is a picture from the story below rather than a definition — which is why translating the four characters one at a time rarely gets you there.
A farmer in the state of Song was working his field when a hare bolted into a tree stump, broke its neck and died. He ate well that night. From then on he put down his plough and sat by the stump waiting for the next hare — and his field went to weeds while the whole state laughed at him.
Source: 《韩非子》Han Feizi, 3rd century BC
The reading shown is the one each character takes inside this idiom — chengyu keep older readings, so it is not always the everyday one. The meanings are read from the same dictionary that powers the translators.
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守株待兔 is pronounced shǒu zhū dài tù and means to trust to luck instead of working for it. Literally it says "guard the stump, wait for the rabbit" — like most chengyu, the literal reading is a picture from a story rather than a definition.
《韩非子》Han Feizi, 3rd century BC. A farmer in the state of Song was working his field when a hare bolted into a tree stump, broke its neck and died. He ate well that night. From then on he put down his plough and sat by the stump waiting for the next hare — and his field went to weeds while the whole state laughed at him.
shǒu zhū dài tù. Press the audio button on this page to hear it spoken by a native voice. Tones here are citation tones, so 一 is written yī even where it is said yí in running speech.
守 (shǒu) To guard (defends - observe), 株 (zhū) Stem (plant - tree trunk), 待 (dài) Treat (wait); Stay, 兔 (tù) Rabbit (hare). These meanings come from the same dictionary as the translators on this site, and the reading shown is the one the character takes inside this idiom.
Yes. Chengyu are not archaic — they are ordinary educated speech, and they turn up in conversation, newspapers and exams. This one sits in the beginner band, which reflects how common it is and how hard its characters are.
Rebuild 守株待兔 from scrambled tiles in the Chengyu Story Puzzle, test yourself on idiom meanings in the Chengyu Quiz, browse all the idioms, or save this one above and review it on your review deck.
Every idiom here comes with the story it was compressed from — that is the rule for being listed, and it is why they stick.
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