狐假虎威

Chinese

		fox	vacation; fake; false vacation; fake; false; artificial; to borrow; if; suppose	tiger	power; might; prestige
trad. (狐假虎威)		狐	假	虎	威
simp. #(狐假虎威)		狐	假	虎	威
Literally: “the fox exploits the tiger's might”.

Etymology

From Zhan Guo Ce, 5th – 3rd centuries BCE.

虎求百獸而食之，得狐。狐曰：『子無敢食我也。天帝使我長百獸，今子食我，是逆天帝命也。子以我為不信，吾為子先行，子隨我後，觀百獸之見我而敢不走乎？』虎以為然，故遂與之行。獸見之皆走。虎不知獸畏己而走也，以為畏狐也。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

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虎求百兽而食之，得狐。狐曰：『子无敢食我也。天帝使我长百兽，今子食我，是逆天帝命也。子以我为不信，吾为子先行，子随我后，观百兽之见我而敢不走乎？』虎以为然，故遂与之行。兽见之皆走。虎不知兽畏己而走也，以为畏狐也。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: Zhanguo Ce, circa 5^th – 3^rd centuries BCE

Hǔ qiú bǎishòu ér shí zhī, dé hú. Hú yuē: ‘Zǐ wú gǎn shí wǒ yě. Tiāndì shǐ wǒ cháng bǎishòu, jīn zǐ shí wǒ, shì nì tiāndì mìng yě. Zǐ yǐ wǒ wèi bùxìn, wú wèi zǐ xiānxíng, zǐ suí wǒ hòu, guān bǎishòu zhī jiàn wǒ ér gǎn bù zǒu hū?’ Hǔ yǐwèi rán, gù suì yǔ zhī xíng. Shòu jiàn zhī jiē zǒu. Hǔ bù zhī shòu wèi jǐ ér zǒu yě, yǐwèi wèi hú yě. [Pinyin]

The tiger, which hunts and eats all the animals, caught a fox. The fox said, "Don't you dare eat me. Heaven made me master of all the animals. If you eat me now, you will go against Heaven's will. If you don't believe me, I'll go in front of you and you can follow me. Observe whether the animals can see me and dare to not run away!" The tiger believed that this was true, so he followed behind the fox. Whoever saw the tiger ran away. The tiger did not know that the animals were running away because they were afraid of him, and he thought that they were afraid of the fox.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): hújiǎhǔwēi

  (Zhuyin): ㄏㄨˊ ㄐㄧㄚˇ ㄏㄨˇ ㄨㄟ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): wu⁴ gaa² fu² wai¹

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: hújiǎhǔwēi [Phonetic: hújiáhǔwēi]
    • Zhuyin: ㄏㄨˊ ㄐㄧㄚˇ ㄏㄨˇ ㄨㄟ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: hújiǎhǔwei
    • Wade–Giles: hu²-chia³-hu³-wei¹
    • Yale: hú-jyǎ-hǔ-wēi
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: hwujeahuuuei
    • Palladius: хуцзяхувэй (xuczjaxuvɛj)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /xu³⁵ t͡ɕi̯ä²¹⁴⁻³⁵ xu²¹⁴⁻²¹ weɪ̯⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: wu⁴ gaa² fu² wai¹
    • Yale: wùh gá fú wāi
    • Cantonese Pinyin: wu⁴ gaa² fu² wai¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: wu⁴ ga² fu² wei¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /wuː²¹ kaː³⁵ fuː³⁵ wɐi̯⁵⁵/

Idiom

狐假虎威

1. (figurative, derogatory) to use powerful connections to intimidate people

Synonyms

• (Hokkien) 狗傍虎威 (káu pn̄g hó͘-ui)

Descendants

• → Vietnamese: cáo mượn oai hùm (calque)