烘云托月 hōng yún tuō yuè

to set off the main thing; a foil

Word data

HSK Not in HSK
Frequency Unknown

Definitions

  1. 1. lit. to shade in the clouds to offset the moon (idiom); fig. a foil
  2. 2. a contrasting character to a main hero

Characters

Character Meaning
烘 hōng HSK 6
to bake; to heat by fire; to set off by contrast
云 yún HSK 4
cloud; abbr. for Yunnan Province 云南省yún nán shěng
托 tuō HSK 5
to entrust; to be entrusted with; to trust
月 yuè HSK 1
month; moon; monthly