知难而退 in English zhi1 nan2 er2 tui4 Meaning

Meanings

  • to sound out the difficulties and retreat to avoid defeat (idiomatic expression); metaphorically to back out of an awkward situation
  • to get out on finding out what it's really like

Simplified Characters

知 难 而 退

Traditional Characters

知 難 而 退

Pinyin

zhi1 nan2 er2 tui4

Literal

Literal explanation, with pronunciation and meaning of each character.

知zhi1to know 难nan2difficult (to...) 而er2and 退tui4to retreat