鸟 尽 弓 藏

niǎo jìn gōng cángdictionary entry

lit. the birds are over, the bow is put away (idiom) / fig. to get rid of sb once he has served his purpose

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-b6d38a9788def24f. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

鳥盡弓藏 鸟尽弓藏 [niao3 jin4 gong1 cang2] /lit. the birds are over, the bow is put away (idiom); fig. to get rid of sb once he has served his purpose/

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: 鳥盡弓藏

鸟
diǎo
penis
niǎo
bird / CL:隻|只[zhī],群[qún] / "bird" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 196) / (dialect) to pay attention to / (intensifier) damned / goddamn
尽
jǐn
to the greatest extent / (when used before a noun of location) furthest or extreme / to be within the limits of / to give priority to
jìn
to use up / to exhaust / to end / to finish / to the utmost / exhausted / finished / to the limit (of sth) / all / entirely
弓
gōng
a bow (weapon) / CL:張|张[zhāng] / to bend / to arch (one's back etc)
Gōng
surname Gong
藏
cáng
to conceal / to hide away / to harbor / to store / to collect
zàng
storehouse / depository / Buddhist or Taoist scripture
Zàng
Tibetan ethnic group / Tibet Autonomous Region (short name for 西藏自治區|西藏自治区[Xī zàng Zì zhì qū])

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.