DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

關公面前耍大刀

简关公面前耍大刀 · 繁關公面前耍大刀

Mandarin · pinyin Guān gōng miàn qián shuǎ dà dāo

lit. to wield the broadsword in the presence of Lord Guan (idiom)
fig. to make a fool of oneself by showing off in front of an expert

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

關: Look up this written character
公: gōng · fair, equitable; public; duke
面: miàn · face; surface; plane; side, dimension; Kangxi radical 176
前: qián · in front, forward; preceding
耍: shuǎ · frolic, play, amuse, play with
大: dà · big, great, vast, large, high
刀: dāo · knife; old coin; measure
关: guān · frontier pass; close; relation

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

1–1–4–2–3–4–1 · Guan1 gong1 mian4 qian2 shua3 da4 dao1

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

7character 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.

關公面前耍大刀 · find source passages ↗ · 关公面前耍大刀 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(figurative) to show off in front of an expert

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack