一 物 降 一 物

yī wù xiáng yī wùdictionary entry

lit. one object bests another object / every item has a weakness (idiom) / there is a rock to every scissor, a scissor to every paper, and a paper to every rock

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-461bba252322753a. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

一物降一物 一物降一物 [yi1 wu4 xiang2 yi1 wu4] /lit. one object bests another object/every item has a weakness (idiom)/there is a rock to every scissor, a scissor to every paper, and a paper to every rock/

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.

一
yī
one / single / a (article) / as soon as / entire / whole / all / throughout / "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1) / also pr. [yāo] for greater clarity when spelling out numbers digit by digit
物
wù
(bound form) thing / (literary) the outside world as distinct from oneself / people other than oneself
降
jiàng
to drop / to fall / to come down / to descend
xiáng
to surrender / to capitulate / to subdue / to conquer / to tame
一
yī
one / single / a (article) / as soon as / entire / whole / all / throughout / "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1) / also pr. [yāo] for greater clarity when spelling out numbers digit by digit
物
wù
(bound form) thing / (literary) the outside world as distinct from oneself / people other than oneself

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.