纸上谈兵 in English zhi3 shang4 tan2 bing1 Meaning

Meanings

  • literally (word for word) military tactics on paper (idiomatic expression)
  • metaphorically theoretical discussion that is worse than useless in practice
  • armchair strategist
  • idle theorizing
  • cf Zhao Kuo 趙括|赵括[Zhao4 Kuo4] leading an army of 400,000 to total annihilation at battle of Changping 長平之戰|长平之战[Chang2 ping2 zhi1 Zhan4] in 260 BC (Before Christ)

Simplified Characters

纸 上 谈 兵

Traditional Characters

紙 上 談 兵

Pinyin

zhi3 shang4 tan2 bing1

Literal

Literal explanation, with pronunciation and meaning of each character.

纸zhi3variant of 紙|纸[zhi3] 上shang4see 上聲|上声[shang3 sheng1] 谈tan2surname Tan 兵bing1soldiers