| 关公面前耍大刀 |
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 |
| 关 |
Guān |
surname Guan |
| 关 |
guān |
mountain pass / to close; to shut; to turn off / to confine; to lock (sb) up; to shut (sb in a room, a bird in a cage etc) / to concern; to involve |
| 关公 |
Guān gōng |
Lord Guan (i.e. 关羽) |
| 公 |
gōng |
public / collectively owned / common / international (e.g. high seas, metric system, calendar) / make public / fair / just / Duke, highest of five orders of nobility 五等爵位 / honorable (gentlemen) / father-in-law / male (animal) |
| 面 |
miàn |
face / side / surface / aspect / top / classifier for objects with flat surfaces such as drums, mirrors, flags etc |
| 面 |
miàn |
variant of 面 |
| 面 |
miàn |
flour / noodles / (of food) soft (not crunchy) / (slang) (of a person) ineffectual / spineless |
| 面前 |
miàn qián |
in front of / facing / (in the) presence (of) |
| 前 |
qián |
front / forward / ahead / first / top (followed by a number) / future / ago / before / BC (e.g. 前293年) / former / formerly |
| 耍 |
Shuǎ |
surname Shua |
| 耍 |
shuǎ |
to play with / to wield / to act (cool etc) / to display (a skill, one's temper etc) |
| 大 |
dà |
big; large; great / older (than another person) / eldest (as in 大姐) / greatly; freely; fully / (dialect) father / (dialect) uncle (father's brother) |
| 大 |
dài |
see 大夫 |
| 大刀 |
dà dāo |
broadsword / large knife / machete |
| 刀 |
Dāo |
surname Dao |
| 刀 |
dāo |
knife / blade / single-edged sword / cutlass / CL:把 / (slang) dollar (loanword) / classifier for sets of one hundred sheets (of paper) / classifier for knife cuts or stabs |