to shrink back as the time for battle approaches (idiom); to get cold feet
trad. 臨陣退縮
Also written 臨陣退縮【lín zhèn tuì suō】
Characters in this word
4临
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
to face, to overlook, to arrive, to be (just) about to, just before
- Pinyin
- lín
- Traditional
- 臨
- Strokes
- 9
- Frequency
- 2068 of 2500
阵
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
disposition of troops, wave, spate, burst, spell, short period of time, classifier for events or states of short duration
- Pinyin
- zhèn
- Traditional
- 陣
- Strokes
- 6
- Frequency
- 31432 of 2500
退
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
to retreat; to withdraw, to reject; to return (sth), to decline
- Pinyin
- tuì
- Strokes
- 9
- Frequency
- 3835 of 2500
缩
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
to withdraw, to pull back, to contract, to shrink, to reduce, abbreviation, also pr. [su4]
- Pinyin
- suō
- Traditional
- 縮
- Strokes
- 14
- Frequency
- 37781 of 2500