lit. called a king if successful, called a bandit if defeated (idiom); fig. losers are always in the wrong
trad. 成則為王，敗則為寇
Also written 成則為王，敗則為寇【chéng zé wéi wáng , bài zé wéi kòu】
Characters in this word
6成
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
surname Cheng, short name for Chengdu 成都[Cheng2 du1]
- Pinyin
- Chéng
- Strokes
- 6
- Frequency
- 677 of 2500
则
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
(literary) (conjunction used to express contrast with a previous clause) but; then, (bound form) standard; norm, (bound form) principle, (literary) to imitate; to follow, classifier for written items
- Pinyin
- zé
- Traditional
- 則
- Strokes
- 6
- Frequency
- 2398 of 2500
为
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
as (in the capacity of), to take sth as, to act as, to serve as, to behave as, to become, to be, to do, by (in the passive voice)
- Pinyin
- wéi
- Traditional
- 為
- Strokes
- 4
- Frequency
- 129 of 2500
王
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
surname Wang
- Pinyin
- Wáng
- Strokes
- 4
- Frequency
- 2561 of 2500
败
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
to defeat, to damage, to lose (to an opponent), to fail, to wither
- Pinyin
- bài
- Traditional
- 敗
- Strokes
- 8
- Frequency
- 24234 of 2500
寇
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
old variant of 寇[kou4]
- Pinyin
- kòu
- Traditional
- 㓂
- Strokes
- 11
- Frequency
- 17449 of 2500