聰明反被聰明誤
cōng​ming​fǎn​bèi​cōng​ming​wù

too smart for one's own good

  • created sense approved 聪明反被聪明误/聰明反被聰明誤 · cōng​ming​fǎn​bèi​cōng​ming​wù · too smart for one's own good — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    聪明反被聪明误 / 聰明反被聰明誤

    cōng​ming​fǎn​bèi​cōng​ming​wù

    too smart for one's own good

    (idiom) a clever person may become the victim of their own ingenuity; cleverness may overreach itself. It describes someone who tries to use schemes or clever tactics but ends up harming their own interests.

    cōng​míng​fǎn​bèi​cōng​míng​wù

    聪明 (literal) → 聪明/聰明 · cōng​ming · intelligent 反 (literal) → 反 · fǎn · on the contrary 被 (literal) → 被 · bèi · [passive] 聪明 (literal) → 聪明/聰明 · cōng​ming · intelligent 误 (literal) → 误/誤 · wù · to harm

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

    created sense