DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

矬子裡拔將軍

简矬子里拔将军 · 繁矬子裡拔將軍

Mandarin · pinyin cuó zi lǐ bá jiāng jūn

lit. to choose a general among the dwarves (idiom)
fig. to pick the best out of a bad group

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

矬: cuó · a dwarf
子: zǐ · offspring, child; fruit, seed of; first earthly branch
裡: Look up this written character
拔: bá · uproot, pull out
將: Look up this written character
軍: Look up this written character
里: lǐ · unit of distance; village; lane; Kangxi radical 166
将: jiāng · will, going to, future; general
军: jūn · army, military; soldiers, troops

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

2–5–3–2–1–1 · cuo2 zi5 li3 ba2 jiang1 jun1

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

6character 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.

矬子裡拔將軍 · find source passages ↗ · 矬子里拔将军 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗