百足之虫死而不僵

Traditional form:

百足之蟲死而不僵

Pinyin (reading):

bǎizúzhīchóngsǐ'érbùjiāng

Definitions:

• a centipede dies but never falls down
• old institutions die hard

Characters:

• 百 - one hundred; numerous, many
• 足 - foot; to attain, to satisfy; enough
• 之 - marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; to go to
• 虫 - insect, worm; mollusk
• 死 - dead; death; impassable, inflexible
• 而 - and, and then, and yet; but
• 不 - no, not, un-; negative prefix
• 僵 - still, stiff, motionless

Traditional characters:

• 百 - one hundred; numerous, many
• 足 - foot; to attain, to satisfy; enough
• 之 - marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; to go to
• 蟲 - insect, worm; mollusk
• 死 - dead; death; impassable, inflexible
• 而 - and, and then, and yet; but
• 不 - no, not, un-; negative prefix
• 僵 - still, stiff, motionless