打草惊蛇 in English da3 cao3 jing1 she2 Meaning

Meanings

  • literally (word for word) beat the grass to scare the snake (idiomatic expression)
  • metaphorically to inadvertently alert an enemy
  • to punish somebody as a warning to others

Simplified Characters

打 草 惊 蛇

Traditional Characters

打 草 驚 蛇

Pinyin

da3 cao3 jing1 she2

Literal

Literal explanation, with pronunciation and meaning of each character.

打da3dozen (loanword) 草cao3variant of 草[cao3] 惊jing1to startle 蛇she2variant of 蛇[she2]