虎头蛇尾 in English hu3 tou2 she2 wei3 Meaning

Meanings

  • literally (word for word) tiger's head, snake's tail (idiomatic expression); metaphorically a strong start but weak finish

Simplified Characters

虎 头 蛇 尾

Traditional Characters

虎 頭 蛇 尾

Pinyin

hu3 tou2 she2 wei3

Literal

Literal explanation, with pronunciation and meaning of each character.

虎hu3tiger 头tou2head 蛇she2variant of 蛇[she2] 尾wei3tail