| 外 |
wài gāng nèi róu | soft on the inside despite one's hard shell / appearing tough on the outside as to mask one's inner vulnerability / also written 内柔外刚 |
| 外 |
wài | outside / in addition / foreign / external |
| 刚 |
gāng | (literary) hard; firm; strong / exactly; precisely / barely; only just / just; only a short while ago |
| 内 |
nèi | inside / inner / internal / within / interior |
| 柔 |
róu | soft / flexible / supple / yielding / rho (Greek letter Ρρ) |