DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

知彼知己

Mandarin · pinyin zhī bǐ zhī jǐ

to know the enemy and know oneself (idiom, from Sunzi's "The Art of War")

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

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

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

1–3–1–3 · zhi1 bi3 zhi1 ji3

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

3character 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.

知彼知己 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Rime · Wiktionary

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

zi1 bei2 zi1 gei2

Cantonese word readings for 知彼知己. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

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 the enemy and know yourself

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack