📖 Meaning
To act at a moment when the other party is off guard, exploiting a window when they have no time to anticipate or prepare. The idiom stresses the strategic value of surprise, urging one to seize the initiative and strike before the opponent can react.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom comes from the Yuan-dynasty historical tale collection 《新编五代史平话》 (Newly Compiled Plain Histories of the Five Dynasties), specifically its section on the Later Jin (后晋, 936–947). In the account, a commander argues that because the enemy assumes his troops cannot fight against the wind, his army should take them by surprise and attack swiftly, calling this 'the deceptive art of warfare.' The saying thus became a classic military maxim about winning through surprise and seizing the initiative.
💡 Example Usage
我们要乘其不意，打击敌人。
We must take the enemy by surprise and strike.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 乘其不意
- Pinyin: chéng qí bù yì
- Literal Translation: take advantage of, one's, not, expecting
- Category: Action
- Characters: 4