寡不敌众 (guǎ bù dí zhòng) — to be hopelessly outnumbered; to be outmatched by superior numbers

Definition

A chengyu meaning 'a few cannot withstand the many' — used to describe being hopelessly outnumbered by a much larger opposing side, often with a sense of unavoidable defeat.

idiom
to be hopelessly outnumberedto be outmatched by superior numbers

Examples

  • ，寡不敌众，。
    Zài zhàn chǎng shàng, wǒ jūn guǎ bù dí zhòng, zuì zhōng chè tuì le.
    On the battlefield, our army was hopelessly outnumbered and eventually retreated.
  • 寡不敌众，。
    Suī rán tā men guǎ bù dí zhòng, dàn tā men yī rán jiān chí zhàn dòu dào dǐ.
    Although they were greatly outnumbered, they still fought to the end.
  • ，寡不敌众，。
    Zhè chǎng bǐ sài zhōng, wǒ men duì guǎ bù dí zhòng, shū le.
    In this game, our team was hopelessly outnumbered and lost.

Origin

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

  • 宀宀miánhouse
  • 頁頁yèhead

The form 寡 pairs 宀, a house, with 頁, a head: one head in a house, alone.

Open 寡 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The picture in 不 originally showed a flower’s calyx; the “no” sense came later from a related character, not from this picture.

Open 不 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 敵; 敌 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
攴攴pūto tap; to hit
Sound part声符shēngfú
啻
啻chì敵dí
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 敵 pairs 啻 as a sound part with 攴, a part for tapping or hitting.

Open 敌 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 眾; 众 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 眾 shows three people under a sun-like shape, meaning a crowd gathered under the sun; the simplified 众 is a later shorthand.

Open 众 →

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