兄弟鬩於墻,外禦其侮

简 兄弟阋于墙,外御其侮 · 繁 兄弟鬩於墻,外禦其侮
Mandarin · pinyin xiōng dì xì yú qiáng , wài yù qí wǔ

Meanings

  1. internal disunity dissolves at the threat of an invasion from outside (idiom)
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Characters in this entry

兄
xiōng · elder brother
弟
dì · young brother; junior; I, me
鬩
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於
yú · yū · in, at, on; interjection alas!
墻
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外
wài · out, outside, external; foreign
禦
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其
qí · his, her, its, their; that
侮
wǔ · insult, ridicule, disgrace
阋
xì · feud, fight, quarrel
于
yú · in, on, at; go to; surname
墙
qiáng · wall
御
yù · drive, ride; chariot; manage
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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

兄弟鬩於墻,外禦其侮 · find source passages ↗ · 兄弟阋于墙,外御其侮 · find source passages ↗

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兄弟鬩於墻,外禦其侮 · xiong1 di4 xi4 yu2 qiang2 , wai4 yu4 qi2 wu3
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 10,422
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record兄弟鬩於墻,外禦其侮 兄弟阋于墙,外御其侮 [xiong1 di4 xi4 yu2 qiang2 , wai4 yu4 qi2 wu3] /internal disunity dissolves at the threat of an invasion from outside (idiom)/