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胸有成竹 (xiōng yǒu chéng zhú) — to have a well-thought-out plan; to be confident and fully prepared

Definition

Idiom meaning 'to have a well-thought-out plan, fully prepared' — emphasizes inner confidence built from having thought the matter through, not just readiness.

phrase
to have a well-thought-out planto be confident and fully prepared

Examples

  • 胸有成竹，。
    Tā duì zhè ge xiàng mù xiōng yǒu chéng zhú, suǒ yǐ yì diǎn yě bù jǐn zhāng.
    He has a well-thought-out plan for this project, so he's not nervous at all.
  • ，胸有成竹。
    Miàn duì zhè me duō tīng zhòng, tā réng rán xiōng yǒu chéng zhú.
    Facing so many listeners, he still had a well-thought-out plan.
  • 胸有成竹，。
    Cān sài qián tā xiōng yǒu chéng zhú, zuì zhōng qǔ dé le hǎo chéng jì.
    Before the competition, she was fully prepared and achieved good results.

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
肉肉ròumeat
Sound part声符shēngfú
匈
匈xiōng胸xiōng
Same sound today

胸 adds 肉 (meat/flesh) to the original form 匈, which provides the sound.

Open 胸 →

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
又
又yòu有yǒu
Same sound today

The form 有 combines 又, used for its sound, with a shape from 肉, 'meat'; the hand-holding-meat story is a folk explanation, not shown in the oldest shape.

Open 有 →

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
戊戊wù
Sound part声符shēngfú
丁
丁dīng成chéng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

成 puts 戊, a weapon, beside 丁, which gives the sound. The weapon part relates to protection, as in the old sense of city walls.

Open 成 →

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

竹 pictures two bamboo stalks with leaves.

Open 竹 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Idioms & Set PhrasesThinking & Cognition

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.