DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

開弓不放箭

简开弓不放箭 · 繁開弓不放箭

Mandarin · pinyin kāi gōng bù fàng jiàn

lit. to draw the bow without shooting the arrow (idiom)
fig. to bluff
to be all talk and no action
false bravado

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Characters in this entry

開: kāi · open; initiate, begin, start
弓: gōng · bow; curved, arched; Kangxi radical 57
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
放: fàng · put, release, free, liberate
箭: jiàn · arrow; type of bamboo
开: kāi · open; initiate, begin, start

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1–4–4–4 · kai1 gong1 bu4 fang4 jian4

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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.

開弓不放箭 · find source passages ↗ · 开弓不放箭 · find source passages ↗

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