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藏龍臥虎

简藏龙卧虎 · 繁藏龍臥虎

Mandarin · pinyin cáng lóng wò hǔ

lit. hidden dragon, crouching tiger (idiom)
fig. talented individuals in hiding
concealed talent

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Characters in this entry

藏: cáng · hide, conceal; hoard, store up
龍: Look up this written character
臥: Look up this written character
虎: hǔ · tiger; brave, fierce; surname
龙: lóng · dragon; symbolic of emperor
卧: wò · lie down; crouch

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

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Mandarin tones

2–2–4–3 · cang2 long2 wo4 hu3

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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.

藏龍臥虎 · find source passages ↗ · 藏龙卧虎 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

cong4 lung4 ngo6 fu2

Cantonese word readings for 藏龍臥虎. 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 have many hidden talented individuals

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

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