兵临城下 bīng lín chéng xià

enemy army at the gates; crisis is very near

Word data

HSK Not in HSK
Frequency 59450th word

Definitions

  1. 1. soldiers at the city walls (idiom); fig. at a critical juncture

Characters

Character Meaning
兵 bīng HSK 5
soldiers; military; weapons
临 lín HSK 5
to face; to be (just) about to; just before
城 chéng HSK 3
city; city walls; town
下 xià HSK 1
down; below; to go down