DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

前門拒虎，後門進狼

简前门拒虎，后门进狼 · 繁前門拒虎，後門進狼

Mandarin · pinyin qián mén jù hǔ , hòu mén jìn láng

to beat a tiger from the front door, only to have a wolf come in at the back (idiom); fig. facing one problem after another

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

前: qián · in front, forward; preceding
門: mén · gate, door, entrance, opening; Kangxi radical 169
拒: jù · ward off with hand, defend
虎: hǔ · tiger; brave, fierce; surname
後: hòu · behind, rear, after; descendents
進: jìn · advance, make progress, enter
狼: láng · wolf
门: mén · gate, door, entrance, opening
后: hòu · queen, empress, sovereign; (simp. for 後) behind, rear, after
进: jìn · advance, make progress, enter

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

Explore the spelling

Connected dictionary

10character 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.

前門拒虎，後門進狼 · find source passages ↗ · 前门拒虎，后门进狼 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗