How to Say ‘Broke (having no money)’ in Simplified Chinese
吃土
chī tǔ
[chī tǔ]
💬 Usage Tip: [吃土] is a fixed slang verb phrase: literally "eat dirt," but it means being so broke you can't afford real life. You can reuse the pattern with [吃] in other slang too, where it often means "live on / suffer through" something rather than actually eat it.
Phrase Breakdown
吃
chī
[chī]
to eat
General term for consuming food.
他月底的时候只能靠吃土过日子。
He can only barely make ends meet at the end of the month.
土
tǔ
[tǔ]
dirt
Refers to soil or earth.
这个月花钱太多，他只能开始吃土了。
He spent too much this month and now he has to live very frugally.
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