when two kingdoms are at war, they don't execute envoys (idiom)
trad. 兩國相爭，不斬來使
Also written 兩國相爭，不斬來使【liǎng guó xiāng zhēng , bù zhǎn lái shǐ】
Characters in this word
8两
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
two, both, some, a few, tael, unit of weight equal to 50 grams (modern) or 1⁄16 of a catty 斤[jin1] (old)
- Pinyin
- liǎng
- Traditional
- 兩
- Strokes
- 7
- Frequency
- 1703 of 2500
国
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
surname Guo
- Pinyin
- Guó
- Traditional
- 國
- Strokes
- 8
- Frequency
- 5111 of 2500
相
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
surname Xiang
- Pinyin
- Xiāng
- Strokes
- 9
- Frequency
- 5022 of 2500
争
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
to strive for, to vie for, to argue or debate, deficient or lacking (dialect), how or what (literary)
- Pinyin
- zhēng
- Traditional
- 爭
- Strokes
- 6
- Frequency
- 13204 of 2500
不
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
no; not so, (bound form) not; un-
- Pinyin
- bù
- Strokes
- 4
- Frequency
- 9 of 2500
斩
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
to behead (as form of capital punishment), to chop
- Pinyin
- zhǎn
- Traditional
- 斬
- Strokes
- 8
- Frequency
- 11375 of 2500
来
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
to come, (used as a substitute for a more specific verb), hither (directional complement for motion toward the speaker, as in 回來|回来[hui2 lai5]), ever since (as in 自古以來|自古以来[zi4 gu3 yi3 lai2]), for the past (amount of time), (prefix) the coming ...; the next ... (as in 來世|来世[lai2 shi4]), (between two verbs) in order to, (after a round number) approximately, (used after 得[de2] to indicate possibility, as in 談得來|谈得来[tan2 de5 lai2], or after 不[bu4] to indicate impossibility, as in 吃不來|吃不来[chi1 bu5 lai2])
- Pinyin
- lái
- Traditional
- 來
- Strokes
- 7
- Frequency
- 33 of 2500
使
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
to make, to cause, to enable, to use, to employ, to send, to instruct sb to do sth, envoy, messenger
- Pinyin
- shǐ
- Strokes
- 8
- Frequency
- 629 of 2500