打草惊蛇

Traditional: 打草驚蛇

dǎ cǎo jīng shé

Dictionary entry

lit. beat the grass to scare the snake (idiom)

What does 打草惊蛇 mean?

打草惊蛇 (dǎ cǎo jīng shé) has the following dictionary meaning.

1lit. beat the grass to scare the snake (idiom)

2fig. to inadvertently alert an enemy

3to punish sb as a warning to others

Character breakdown

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打dá(loanword) dozen · Taiwan pr. [da3]草cǎovariant of 草[cao3]惊jīngto startle · to be frightened 蛇shévariant of 蛇[she2]

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How to pronounce 打草惊蛇

打草惊蛇

dǎ cǎo jīng shé

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Base dictionary data: CC-CEDICT · CC BY-SA 4.0.