以夷治夷
yǐ​yí​zhì​yí

play off foreigners against foreigners

  • created sense approved 以夷治夷 · yǐ​yí​zhì​yí · play off foreigners against foreigners — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    以夷治夷

    yǐ​yí​zhì​yí

    play off foreigners against foreigners

    to use foreigners to control other foreigners; a strategy of using barbarians to keep other barbarians in check

    以 (literal) → 以 · yǐ · by means of 夷 (literal) → 夷 · yí · foreigners 治 (literal) → 治 · zhì · to rule 夷 (literal) → 夷 · yí · foreigners

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

    created sense