外強中乾
简 外强中干 · 繁 外強中乾Meanings
- strong in appearance but weak in reality (idiom)
Characters in this entry
- 外
- wài · out, outside, external; foreign
- 強
- qiáng · strong, powerful, energetic
- 中
- zhōng · central; center, middle; in the midst of; hit (target); attain
- 乾
- qián · gān · dry; warming principle of the sun, penetrating and fertilizing, heavenly generative principle (male); trigram ☰; hexagram ䷀
- 强
- qiáng · strong, powerful, energetic
- 干
- gàn · oppose, offend; invade; dried
Explore the spelling
Mandarin tones
4–2–1–1 · wai4 qiang2 zhong1 gan1
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
Connected dictionary
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.
外強中乾 · find source passages ↗ · 外强中干 · find source passages ↗
Compare dictionary sources Rime · Wiktionary
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
ngoi6 koeng4 zung1 gon1
Cantonese word readings for 外強中乾. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.
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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section
Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.
phrase
- (idiomatic) to appear strong on the outside but in reality be weak on the inside
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack