一个巴掌拍不响 in English yi1 ge5 ba1 zhang3 pai1 bu4 xiang3 Meaning

Meanings

• literally (word for word) one palm alone cannot clap (proverb)
• metaphorically it takes two persons to start a dispute
• it takes two to tango
• it's difficult to achieve anything without support

Pinyin

yi1 ge5 ba1 zhang3 pai1 bu4 xiang3

Literal

Literal explanation, with pronunciation and meaning of each character.

一yi1one 个ge4individual 巴ba1Ba state during Zhou dynasty (in east of modern Sichuan) 掌zhang3palm of the hand 拍pai1to pat 不bu4(negative prefix) 响xiang3echo