阳奉阴违 — Chinese idiom

Meaning

• outward devotion but inner opposition ; to pay lip service
• to agree overtly, but oppose in secret

Character by character

• 阳yángthe male principle; bright, sunny; clear, lit, ope
• 奉fèngto offer, to respect, to server; to receive
• 阴yīnthe female principle; dark, shaded; hidden, implic
• 违wéito violate, to disobey, to defy; to separate from

Idioms sharing a character

• 夕阳西下 xī yáng xī xià
• 洛阳纸贵 Luò yáng zhǐ guì
• 阴差阳错 yīn chā yáng cuò
• 阳光明媚 yáng guāng míng mèi
• 阳光普照 yáng guāng pǔ zhào
• 克己奉公 kè jǐ fèng gōng
• 奉公克己 fèng gōng kè jǐ
• 奉为圭臬 fèng wéi guī niè
• 奉若神明 fèng ruò shén míng
• 无可奉告 wú kě fèng gào

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