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調虎離山

简调虎离山 · 繁調虎離山

Mandarin · pinyin diào hǔ lí shān

to lure the tiger from its domain in the mountains (idiom)
to lure an enemy away from his territory

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Characters in this entry

調: Look up this written character
虎: hǔ · tiger; brave, fierce; surname
離: Look up this written character
山: shān · mountain, hill, peak
调: diào · transfer, move, change; tune
离: lí · rare beast; strange; elegant

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3–2–1 · diao4 hu3 li2 shan1

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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.

調虎離山 · find source passages ↗ · 调虎离山 · find source passages ↗

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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 lure an opponent out; to get rid of an opponent or a problem to achieve one's goal

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

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