扬长避短 — Chinese idiom
扬长避短
yáng cháng bì duǎn
Traditional: 揚長避短
Meaning
- to foster strengths and avoid weaknesses
- to play to one's strengths
Character by character
- 扬yángto flutter, to wave; to hoist, to raise; to praise
- 长chánglong, lasting; to excel in
- 避bìto avoid, to turn away; to escape, to hide
- 短duǎnbrief, short; deficient, lacking
Idioms sharing a character
- 其貌不扬 qí mào bù yáng
- 分道扬镳 fēn dào yáng biāo
- 名扬四海 míng yáng sì hǎi
- 惩恶扬善 chéng è yáng shàn
- 扬名四海 yáng míng sì hǎi
- 扬幡招魂 yáng fān zhāo hún
- 激浊扬清 jī zhuó yáng qīng
- 发扬踔厉 fā yáng chuō lì
- 神采飞扬 shén cǎi fēi yáng
- 纷纷扬扬 fēn fēn yáng yáng
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3). Retrieved 2026-10-22.