退避三舍 — Chinese idiom

Meaning

• (lit.) to retreat ninety li
• (fig.) to shun; to assiduously avoid

Character by character

• 退tuìto retreat, to step back, to withdraw
• 避bìto avoid, to turn away; to escape, to hide
• 三sānthree
• 舍shèhouse, dwelling; to reside, to dwell; to abandon,

Idioms sharing a character

• 不知进退 bù zhī jìn tuì
• 全身而退 quán shēn ér tuì
• 打退堂鼓 dǎ tuì táng gǔ
• 知难而退 zhī nán ér tuì
• 临阵退缩 lín zhèn tuì suō
• 进退不得 jìn tuì bù dé
• 进退两难 jìn tuì liǎng nán
• 进退失据 jìn tuì shī jù
• 进退为难 jìn tuì wéi nán
• 进退无路 jìn tuì wú lù

Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3). Retrieved 2026-10-22.