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知己知彼

Mandarin · pinyin zhī jǐ zhī bǐ

know yourself, know your enemy (idiom, from Sunzi's "The Art of War" 孫子兵法 Sūn zǐ Bīng fǎ)

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Characters in this entry

知: zhī · know, perceive, comprehend
己: jǐ · self, oneself; personal, private; 6th heavenly stem
彼: bǐ · that, there, those

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

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Mandarin tones

1–3–1–3 · zhi1 ji3 zhi1 bi3

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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.

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

zi1 gei2 zi1 bei2

Cantonese word readings for 知己知彼. 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 know yourself and know the enemy

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

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