DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

兵來將擋，水來土掩

简兵来将挡，水来土掩 · 繁兵來將擋，水來土掩

Mandarin · pinyin bīng lái jiàng dǎng , shuǐ lái tǔ yǎn

counter soldiers with arms, water with an earth weir (idiom); different situations call for different action
to adopt measures appropriate to the actual situation

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

兵: bīng · soldier, troops
來: lái · come, coming; return, returning
將: Look up this written character
擋: Look up this written character
水: shuǐ · water, liquid, lotion, juice
土: tǔ · soil, earth; items made of earth
掩: yǎn · to cover (with the hand); shut, conceal; ambush
来: lái · come, coming; return, returning
将: jiāng · will, going to, future; general
挡: dǎng · obstruct, impede; stop; resist

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Connected dictionary

8character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

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.

兵來將擋，水來土掩 · find source passages ↗ · 兵来将挡，水来土掩 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗