千 军 易 得，一 将 难 求

qiān jūn yì dé , yī jiàng nán qiúdictionary entry

Easy to raise an army of one thousand, but hard to find a good general. (idiom)

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-a5387a5db6f0419c. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

千軍易得，一將難求 千军易得，一将难求 [qian1 jun1 yi4 de2 , yi1 jiang4 nan2 qiu2] /Easy to raise an army of one thousand, but hard to find a good general. (idiom)/

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.

Other forms in these source records: 千軍易得，一將難求

千
qiān
thousand / used in 鞦韆|秋千[qiū qiān]
军
jūn
(bound form) army / military
易
yì
easy / amiable / to change / to exchange / prefix corresponding to the English adjective suffix "-able" or "-ible"
Yì
surname Yi / I Ching / Book of Changes (abbr. for 易經|易经[Yì jīng])
得
dé
to obtain / to get / to gain / to catch (a disease) / proper / suitable / proud / contented / to allow / to permit / ready / finished
dè
used in 得瑟[dè se]
de
structural particle: used after a verb (or adjective as main verb), linking it to following phrase indicating effect, degree, possibility etc
děi
to have to / must / ought to / to need to
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
将
jiāng
will / shall / to use / to take / to checkmate / just a short while ago / (introduces object of main verb, used in the same way as 把[bǎ])
jiàng
(bound form) a general / (literary) to command / to lead / (Chinese chess) general (on the black side, equivalent to a king in Western chess)
qiāng
to desire / to invite / to request
难
nán
difficult (to...) / problem / difficulty / difficult / not good
nàn
disaster / distress / to scold
求
qiú
to seek / to look for / to request / to demand / to beseech

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.