wán​bì​guī​zhào

to return something to its owner

  • created sense approved 完璧归赵/完璧歸趙 · wán​bì​guī​zhào · to return something to its owner — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    完璧归赵 / 完璧歸趙

    wán​bì​guī​zhào

    to return something to its owner

    Literally "to return the jade annulus to Zhao", this refers to returning an object to its original owner in perfect condition. The phrase originates from the story of [[蔺相如|藺相如|lin4 xiang1 ru2]] returning a precious jade to the state of Zhao intact after outwitting the King of Qin.

    完 (literal) → 完 · wán · complete 璧 (literal) → 璧 · bì · jade annulus 归 (literal) → 归/歸 · guī · to give back 赵 (literal) → 赵/趙 · zhào · Zhao state

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

    created sense