问鼎中原 — Chinese idiom

Meaning

• to plan to seize power of the whole country

Character by character

• 问wènto ask about, to inquire after
• 鼎dǐnglarge, three-legged bronze cauldron
• 中Zhōngcentral; center, middle; amidst; to hit (target),
• 原yuánsource, origin, beginning

Idioms sharing a character

• 不闻不问 bù wén bù wèn
• 入境问俗 rù jìng wèn sú
• 刨根问底 páo gēn wèn dǐ
• 问客杀鸡 wèn kè shā jī
• 问寒问暖 wèn hán wèn nuǎn
• 问心无愧 wèn xīn wú kuì
• 问道于盲 wèn dào yú máng
• 问鼎轻重 wèn dǐng qīng zhòng
• 嘘寒问暖 xū hán wèn nuǎn
• 寻根问底 xún gēn wèn dǐ

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