两国相争，不斩来使 / 兩國相爭，不斬來使

liǎng​guó​xiāng​zhēng​bù​zhǎn​lái​shǐ

do not execute envoys

(idiom) when two countries are at war, they should not execute messengers or envoys sent from the other side

两国 (literal) → 两国/兩國 · liǎng​guó · both countries 相争 (literal) → 相争/相爭 · xiāng​zhēng · to compete; conflict ， (non_chinese) 不 (literal) → 不 · bù · not 斩 (literal) → 斩/斬 · zhǎn · to behead 来使 (literal) → 来使/來使 · lái​shǐ · messenger

Changed: simplified, traditional, gloss, definition, pinyin, variant pinyin, variants, separable parts, decomposition

created sense May 20, 2026, 07:58 PM