DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

攻其無備

简攻其无备 · 繁攻其無備

Mandarin · pinyin gōng qí wú bèi

see 出其不意，攻其不備 chū qí bù yì, gōng qí bù bèi

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Characters in this entry

攻: gōng · attack, assault; criticize
其: qí · his, her, its, their; that
無: Look up this written character
備: bèi · prepare, ready, perfect
无: wú · negative, no, not; Kangxi radical 71
备: bèi · prepare, ready, perfect

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

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Mandarin tones

1–2–2–4 · gong1 qi2 wu2 bei4

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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.

攻其無備 · find source passages ↗ · 攻其无备 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(idiomatic) to attack when the enemy is unprepared

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

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