明知山有虎,偏向虎山行

Mandarin · pinyin míng zhī shān yǒu hǔ , piān xiàng hǔ shān xíng

Meanings

  1. lit. to willfully go towards the mountain although knowing that it has tigers (idiom)
  2. fig. to take a risk despite knowing the dangers
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Characters in this entry

明
míng · bright, light, brilliant; clear
知
zhī · know, perceive, comprehend
山
shān · mountain, hill, peak
有
yǒu · have, own, possess; exist
虎
hǔ · tiger; brave, fierce; surname
偏
piān · inclined one side; slanting
向
xiàng · toward, direction, trend
行
xíng · go; walk; move, travel; circulate; Kangxi radical 144
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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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.

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明知山有虎,偏向虎山行 · ming2 zhi1 shan1 you3 hu3 , pian1 xiang4 hu3 shan1 xing2
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 53,070
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record明知山有虎,偏向虎山行 明知山有虎,偏向虎山行 [ming2 zhi1 shan1 you3 hu3 , pian1 xiang4 hu3 shan1 xing2] /lit. to willfully go towards the mountain although knowing that it has tigers (idiom)/fig. to take a risk despite knowing the dangers/