围魏救赵 — Chinese idiom
围魏救赵
wéi Wèi jiù Zhào
Traditional: 圍魏救趙
Meaning
- lit. to besiege 魏 (Wèi) and rescue 赵 (Zhào)
- fig. to relieve a besieged ally by attacking the home base of the besiegers
Character by character
- 围wéito surround, to encircle, to corral
- 魏Wèithe kingdom of Wei; surname
- 救jiùaid, help; to rescue, to save
- 赵Zhàoancient state; surname
Idioms sharing a character
- 围城打援 wéi chéng dǎ yuán
- 从井救人 cóng jǐng jiù rén
- 抱薪救火 bào xīn jiù huǒ
- 舍己救人 shě jǐ jiù rén
- 抢险救灾 qiǎng xiǎn jiù zāi
- 无可救药 wú kě jiù yào
- 补偏救弊 bǔ piān jiù bì
- 完璧归赵 wán bì guī Zhào
- 张王李赵 Zhāng Wáng Lǐ Zhào
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3). Retrieved 2026-10-22.