Word information
Simplified此消彼长
Traditional此消彼長
Pinyincǐ xiāo bǐ zhǎng
Part of speechDictionary
HSK 3.0Not listed
HSK 2.0Not listed
Chinese word dictionary
此消彼长
cǐ xiāo bǐ zhǎng · (idiom) one declines while the other flourishes; one loses out when the other one gains (as in a trade-off or a zero-sum game)
Character breakdown
Study each Hanzi separately, then return to the complete word so pronunciation, meaning, and movement stay connected.
How to learn 此消彼长
Listen once without reading, repeat the pinyin with its tones, then write every character in sequence. Finally, recall the complete meaning instead of memorizing each character as an isolated translation.
When the word appears in a sentence, check whether its part of speech and meaning match the definition shown here. Chinese words can change nuance with context.
Related vocabulary
Words with the same characters
Compare how a familiar Hanzi changes meaning inside another word.
长cháng
long; (bound form) length; (bound form) strong point; forte; (bound form) to be good at; (literary) surplus; spare (Taiwan pr. [zhang4])
校长xiàozhǎng(college, university) president; headmaster; CL:個|个[ge4],位[wei4],名[ming2]
此cǐthis; these
此次cǐcìthis time
此外cǐwàibesides; in addition; moreover; furthermore
从此cóngcǐfrom now on; since then; henceforth