敲门砖

Traditional form:

敲門磚

Pinyin (reading):

qiāoménzhuān

Definitions:

• lit. a brick as a door knocker (idiom); fig. a temporary expedient
• to use sb as a stepping stone to fortune

Characters:

• 敲 - to hammer, to pound, to strike
• 门 - gate, door, entrance, opening
• 砖 - tile, brick

Traditional characters:

• 敲 - to hammer, to pound, to strike
• 門 - gate, door, entrance, opening
• 磚 - tile, brick