知 己 知 彼

zhī jǐ zhī bǐdictionary entry

know yourself, know your enemy (idiom, from Sunzi's "The Art of War" 孫子兵法|孙子兵法[Sūn zǐ Bīng fǎ])

Sources & editorial notes

Reference definitions: CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source release 2026-10-27T01:55:52Z. Imported 2026-10-27. Definition wording and meaning order are retained. Recognized pronunciation references are displayed with tone marks; the original source record is available below.

Source record: cd-10c266cbe19e8ed8. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

知己知彼 知己知彼 [zhi1 ji3 zhi1 bi3] /know yourself, know your enemy (idiom, from Sunzi's "The Art of War" 孫子兵法|孙子兵法[Sun1 zi3 Bing1 fa3])/

Reference definitions and teaching material have separate provenance.

Reference information

The definitions above are from CC-CEDICT. Examples and usage notes are available on selected entries.

Character information

View the individual characters. Their meanings do not necessarily explain the meaning of the whole word.

知
zhī
to know / to be aware
己
jǐ
self / oneself / sixth of the ten Heavenly Stems 十天干[shí tiān gān] / sixth in order / letter "F" or Roman "VI" in list "A, B, C", or "I, II, III" etc / hexa
知
zhī
to know / to be aware
彼
bǐ
that / those / (one) another

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.