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赤膊上陣

简赤膊上阵 · 繁赤膊上陣

Mandarin · pinyin chì bó shàng zhèn

lit. to go into battle bare-breasted (idiom)
fig. to go all out
to come out in the open

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Characters in this entry

赤: chì · red; bare; Kangxi radical 155
膊: bó · shoulders, upper arms
上: shàng · top; superior, highest; go up, send up
陣: Look up this written character
阵: zhèn · column, row or file of troops

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2–4–4 · chi4 bo2 shang4 zhen4

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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.

赤膊上陣 · find source passages ↗ · 赤膊上阵 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) to go into battle barechested
(figurative) to go all out; to go full speed ahead; to do something (often bad) without reservations or concealment

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

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