counter soldiers with arms, water with an earth weir (idiom); different situations call for different action; to adopt measures appropriate to the actual situation
trad. 兵來將擋，水來土掩
Also written 兵來將擋，水來土掩【bīng lái jiàng dǎng , shuǐ lái tǔ yǎn】
Characters in this word
7兵
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
soldiers, a force, an army, weapons, arms, military, warlike, CL:個|个[ge4]
- Pinyin
- bīng
- Strokes
- 7
- Frequency
- 4822 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
将
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
will, shall, to use, to take, to checkmate, just a short while ago, (introduces object of main verb, used in the same way as 把[ba3])
- Pinyin
- jiāng
- Traditional
- 將
- Strokes
- 9
- Frequency
- 153 of 2500
挡
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
to resist, to obstruct, to hinder, to keep off, to block (a blow), to get in the way of, cover, gear (e.g. in a car's transmission)
- Pinyin
- dǎng
- Traditional
- 擋
- Strokes
- 9
- Frequency
- 3517 of 2500
水
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
surname Shui, Shui ethnic group
- Pinyin
- Shuǐ
- Strokes
- 4
- Frequency
- 807 of 2500
土
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
surname Tu, Tu ethnic group
- Pinyin
- Tǔ
- Strokes
- 3
- Frequency
- 8832 of 2500
掩
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
to cover up; to conceal, to close (a door, book etc), (coll.) to get (one's fingers etc) caught when closing a door or lid, (literary) to launch a surprise attack
- Pinyin
- yǎn
- Strokes
- 11
- Frequency
- 36628 of 2500