开弓不放箭 kāi gōng bù fàng jiàn

DEFINITIONS

  1. lit. to draw the bow without shooting the arrow (idiom)
  2. fig. to bluff
  3. to be all talk and no action
  4. false bravado

CHARACTERS

开 kāi
HSK 1
open; initiate, begin, start
弓 gōng bow; curved, arched; KangXi radical number 57
不 bù
HSK 1
no, not; un-; negative prefix
放 fàng
HSK 3
put, release, free, liberate
箭 jiàn
HSK 6
arrow; type of bamboo