得过且过 (dé guò qiě guò) — to muddle along; to drift through life without…

Definition

A chengyu describing an attitude of getting by day to day — no plans, no ambition. Carries a negative judgment (lazy or passive), unlike 中庸 which is a neutral philosophy of balance.

idiom

to muddle alongto drift through life without ambition

Examples

得过且过，。
Tā gōng zuò yì zhí bào zhe dé guò qiě guò de tài dù, cóng bù zhǔ dòng xué xí xīn jì néng.
He has always had a 'muddle along' attitude at work, never proactively learning new skills.
得过且过。
Zhè zhǒng dé guò qiě guò de xīn tài huì ràng rén shī qù hěn duō hǎo jī huì.
This kind of drifting mentality will make you miss many good opportunities.
，得过且过。
Nián qīng rén yīng gāi jī jí jìn qǔ, bú yào dé guò qiě guò.
Young people should be proactive and not just muddle along.

Origin

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

The old form 㝵 showed a hand picking up a cowry, meaning to obtain; later changes turned that picture into 得.

Open 得 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 過; 过 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

辵辵chuòwalk

Sound part声符shēngfú

咼

咼wāi過guò

Same sound today

The traditional form 過 pairs 辵 (walk) with 咼 as a sound component; the simplified 过 is a shorthand, and its parts are not the historical components.

Open 过 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 且 is thought to picture a stone altar, a sacrificial vessel seen from above, or an erect penis.

Open 且 →