外圆内方 — Chinese idiom
外圆内方
wài yuán nèi fāng
Traditional: 外圓內方
Meaning
- lit. outside-flexible, inside-firm
- fig. velvet glove
Character by character
- 外wàiout, outside, external; foreign; in addition
- 圆yuáncircle; circular, round; complete
- 内nèiinside
- 方fāngsquare, rectangle; side; region; flag
Idioms sharing a character
- 九霄云外 jiǔ xiāo yún wài
- 付之度外 fù zhī dù wài
- 内忧外困 nèi yōu wài kùn
- 内忧外患 nèi yōu wài huàn
- 出乎意外 chū hū yì wài
- 出人意外 chū rén yì wài
- 古今中外 gǔ jīn zhōng wài
- 吃里扒外 chī lǐ pá wài
- 喜出望外 xǐ chū wàng wài
- 外宽内忌 wài kuān nèi jì
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3). Retrieved 2026-10-22.