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-b0d20afd243fffed. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.
Original source entry:
紙上談兵 纸上谈兵 [zhi3 shang4 tan2 bing1] /lit. military tactics on paper (idiom)/fig. theoretical discussion that is worse than useless in practice/armchair strategist/idle theorizing/cf Zhao Kuo 趙括|赵括[Zhao4 Kuo4] leading an army of 400,000 to total annihilation at battle of Changping 長平之戰|长平之战[Chang2 ping2 zhi1 Zhan4] in 260 BC/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: 紙上談兵
Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.