4 characters Idiom and proverb 30 283

Learning Chinese starts simple with characters, advances to words, and peaks with idioms. Explore the free idiom 「鷸蚌相爭」 here, with meaning and examples.

This time, we present the Chinese idiom 「鷸蚌相爭」, with its definition and usage detailed below.

An abbreviation of “While the snipe and the clam quarrel, the fisherman gains.” It is a metaphor for a stalemate between two parties, which allows a third party to benefit from it.

The Mandarin pronunciation of this idiom is :

yù bàng xiàng zhēng

while its Cantonese pinyin is :

wat6 pong5 seung2 jaang1

The treasure trove of Chinese idioms is extensive, with different expressions suited for various situations. We hope these free resources will aid you in your journey to mastering Chinese.