战无不胜 (zhàn wú bù shèng) — invincible; unbeatable; never losing

Definition

A four-character idiom (chéngyǔ) meaning 'every battle is won' — used to praise an army, team, or person who never loses. More literary than plain 'unbeatable'.

idiom
invincibleunbeatablenever losing

Examples

  • 战无不胜,。
    Zhè zhī jūn duì zài lì shǐ shàng zhàn wú bù shèng, cóng wèi chī guò bài zhàng.
    This army was invincible in history and never suffered defeat.
  • 战无不胜,。
    Tā zài qí tán shàng zhàn wú bù shèng, yíng dé le suǒ yǒu zhòng yào bǐ sài.
    He is invincible in the chess world, having won all major tournaments.
  • ,战无不胜。
    Zhǐ yào tuán jié yí zhì, wǒ men jiù néng zhàn wú bù shèng.
    As long as we are united, we can be invincible.

Origin

Characters in this word

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
Sound part声符shēngfú
占
占zhàn战zhàn
Same sound today

战 pairs 占, which gives its sound, with 戈, a weapon.

Open 战 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 無; 无 is its simplified writing.

For the simplified 无, the story is about 無. 無 drew a person dancing with ox tails held in both hands to pray for rain, then was borrowed for 'have no', so the picture does not explain that meaning.

Open 无 →

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
肉肉ròumeat
Sound part声符shēngfú
生
生shēng胜shèng
Same sound today

The simplified 胜 changes the traditional 勝 by replacing part of its sound side with 生; the left 肉 relates to meat.

Open 胜 →

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