9 Fierce Chinese Idioms With Tiger (虎)
Explore powerful Chinese idioms featuring the tiger (虎), representing courage, power, and authority.
The tiger (虎, hǔ) represents courage, power, and authority in Chinese culture. Known as the king of beasts, tiger idioms often describe bravery, danger, or formidable opponents.
狐假虎威
hú jiǎ hǔ wēiBorrow authority to intimidate
Literal: Fox uses tiger's power
A tiger caught a fox, and the fox said heaven had made it lord of the beasts, so eating it would be defying heaven — walk behind me and see whether anything dares stand its ground. The tiger followed, the animals fled, and the tiger concluded the fox had been telling the truth. The Strategies of the...
Example
The junior manager kept dropping the CEO's name to get his way
这个初级经理总是搬出CEO的名字来达到目的
两虎相争
liǎng hǔ xiāng zhēngFierce competition between equals
Literal: Two tigers fight
Bian Zhuangzi meant to kill two tigers that were fighting over an ox, and was told to wait: the big one will be hurt and the small one killed, and he would then take two tigers at the cost of one strike. He waited, and did. The Records of the Grand Historian tells it in an argument about letting two...
Example
When the two star players fought for team leadership, it damaged team morale and performance
当两位明星球员争夺队伍领导权时，损害了团队士气和表现
三人成虎
sān rén chéng hǔRepeated lie becomes truth
Literal: Three people make tiger real
Pang Cong, about to leave Wei escorting a hostage prince to Handan, asked his king whether he would believe a man who reported a tiger (虎) in the marketplace. No. Two men? He would wonder. Three (三) men (人)? The king said he would believe it. There is no tiger in the marketplace, Pang Cong said, and...
Example
The untrue rumor about a product defect spread on social media until customers started believing it without evidence
关于产品缺陷的不实传言在社交媒体上传播，直到顾客开始在没有证据的情况下相信它
骑虎难下
qí hǔ nán xiàUnable to stop dangerous course
Literal: Hard to dismount tiger
With the campaign against Su Jun faltering, Wen Qiao argued in council with Tao Kan that there could be no turning on the heel: 骑猛兽，安可中下哉 — having mounted a fierce beast, how is a man to get off halfway? The History of the Jin gives the words as speech rather than a letter. What the image supplies i...
Example
The politician found himself unable to reverse his controversial policy without losing credibility
这位政治家发现自己无法在不失去信誉的情况下撤回有争议的政策
马马虎虎
mǎ mǎ hǔ hǔJust so-so or passable quality
Literal: Horse horse tiger tiger
Horse (马) horse tiger (虎) tiger. The folk story behind it has a careless painter whose animal could be read as either, and who is said to have lost two sons to the ambiguity. Whatever its origin, the doubling is what makes it colloquial: reduplication of this kind belongs to spoken Chinese, not to l...
Example
His performance in the presentation was just passable, neither impressive nor terrible
他在演讲中的表现只是马马虎虎，既不出色也不糟糕
与虎谋皮
yǔ hǔ móu píAsking someone to sacrifice their core interests
Literal: With tiger plot skin
The original form is 与狐谋皮, negotiating with the fox for its skin — a man who wanted a fur robe put the proposal to the foxes, and wanted meat for a sacrifice and put it to the sheep, and both parties left before he had finished speaking. The tiger (虎) version is the one in common use now. What the p...
Example
Negotiating with the monopoly about fair pricing was like asking a tiger for its own hide
与垄断企业谈判公平定价就像与虎谋皮
虎踞龙盘
hǔ jù lóng pánCommanding imposing strategic position
Literal: Tiger crouch dragon coil
Zhuge Liang is said to have described the terrain at present-day Nanjing as a coiling dragon (龙盘) and a crouching tiger (虎踞) — the ridge line curling round and the rock outcrop hunched above the river. Both animals are shown gathered rather than in motion, which is the sense being conveyed: not aggr...
Example
The ancient fortress commanded the mountain pass with intimidating strategic position
这座古堡以令人生畏的战略位置控制着山口
虎头蛇尾
hǔ tóu shé wěiStrong start with weak finish
Literal: Tiger head snake tail
A tiger's head (虎头) on a snake's tail (蛇尾). The mismatch is the argument, and it is precise about the failure: the beginning was not merely good but imposing, which is what makes the ending conspicuous. Chinese distinguishes this from abandoning something outright — the snake's tail is still a tail,...
Example
The novel began with dramatic intensity but ended with a weak, rushed conclusion
这部小说开头激烈，但以弱且仓促的结尾收场
如虎添翼
rú hǔ tiān yìAdd to one's strength; become even more powerful
Literal: Like tiger adding wings
A tiger (虎) with wings (翼) added (添). The animal was already at the top of anything it might meet, so the addition is not making it competitive but removing the last constraint on it — what changes is not the tiger's strength but the ground it can now reach. In practice it is used of capable people ...
Example
The new funding will greatly strengthen our capabilities.
新的资金将使我们如虎添翼。
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