明爭暗鬥

简 明争暗斗 · 繁 明爭暗鬥
Mandarin · pinyin míng zhēng àn dòu

Meanings

  1. (idiom) to fight openly and maneuver covertly
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Characters in this entry

明
míng · bright, light, brilliant; clear
爭
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暗
àn · dark; obscure; in secret, covert
鬥
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争
zhēng · dispute, fight, contend, strive
斗
dòu · dǒu · a dipper; unit of volume (ten 升 or litres); Kangxi radical 68; 8th lunar mansion, determinative star φ Sagittarii
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

2–1–4–4 · ming2 zheng1 an4 dou4

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

ming4 zang1 am3 dau3

Cantonese word readings for 明爭暗鬥. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

ming4 zang1 am3 dau3

Pleco · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Word reading; meanings not aligned.

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

  1. (idiomatic) open and veiled strife

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack