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Chinese Character/Word:

Definition(s) for: 聪明反被聪明误

Hanzi Pinyin Definition(s)
聪明反被聪明误 cōng míng fǎn bèi cōng míng wù - (idiom) a clever person may become the victim of his own ingenuity; cleverness may overreach itself; too smart for one's own good

List Ranking:

Where rank 1 is most common, and higher numbers are less common.

HSK 2 Level (2012) HSK 3 Band (2022) SUBTLEX-CH BeijingUni Global BeijingUni Weibo
- - 39,727 76,496 47,368

Individual Character Breakdown:

Simp Pinyin Eng
cōng- (literary) acute (of hearing)
- (bound form) clever; intelligent; sharp
míng- Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)
- surname Ming
- Ming (c. 2000 BC), fourth of the legendary Flame Emperors, 炎帝[Yan2di4] descended from Shennong 神農|神农[Shen2nong2] Farmer God
míng- bright
- opposite: dark 暗[an4]
- (of meaning) clear
- to understand
- next
- public or open
- wise
- generic term for a sacrifice to the gods
fǎn- contrary
- in reverse
- inside out or upside down
- to reverse
- to return
- to oppose
- opposite
- against
- anti-
- to rebel
- to use analogy
- instead
- abbr. for 反切[fan3 qie4] phonetic system
bèi- quilt
- to cover (with)
- (literary) to suffer (a misfortune)
- used to indicate passive voice (placed before the doer of the action like "by" in English passive-voice sentences, or, if the doer is not mentioned, before the verb)
- (since c. 2009) (sarcastic or jocular) used to indicate that the following word should be regarded as being in air quotes (as in 被旅遊|被旅游[bei4 lu:3you2] to "go on a trip")
cōng- (literary) acute (of hearing)
- (bound form) clever; intelligent; sharp
míng- Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)
- surname Ming
- Ming (c. 2000 BC), fourth of the legendary Flame Emperors, 炎帝[Yan2di4] descended from Shennong 神農|神农[Shen2nong2] Farmer God
míng- bright
- opposite: dark 暗[an4]
- (of meaning) clear
- to understand
- next
- public or open
- wise
- generic term for a sacrifice to the gods
- mistake
- error
- to miss
- to harm
- to delay
- to neglect
- mistakenly

Other Words Containing 聪明反被聪明误

Sorted by the 'SUBTLEX-CH' rank because that seems like the most reliable. Words without a SUBTLEX-CH rank are ignored for being too rare.

Word HSK 2 Level (2012) HSK 3 Band (2022) SUBTLEX-CH BeijingUni Global BeijingUni Weibo
聪明反被聪明误 - - 39,727 76,496 47,368