草船借箭

cǎo chuán jiè jiàn

Dictionary entry

lit. using straw boats to borrow arrows (idiom, from 三國演義|三国演义[San1 guo2 Yan3 yi4])

What does 草船借箭 mean?

草船借箭 (cǎo chuán jiè jiàn) has the following dictionary meaning.

1lit. using straw boats to borrow arrows (idiom, from 三國演義|三国演义[San1 guo2 Yan3 yi4])

2fig. to use others' manpower and resources for one's own ends

Character breakdown

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草cǎovariant of 草[cao3]船chuánvariant of 船[chuan2]借jièto borrow · (used in combination with 給|给[gei3] or 出[chu1] etc) to lend 箭jiànarrow · CL:支[zhi1]

Reviewed examples

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How to pronounce 草船借箭

草船借箭

cǎo chuán jiè jiàn

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