虎头蛇尾 hǔ tóu shé wěi

strong start, weak finish

Word data

HSK Not in HSK
Frequency 34882nd word

Definitions

  1. 1. lit. tiger's head, snake's tail (idiom); fig. a strong start but weak finish

Characters

Character Meaning
虎 hǔ HSK 4
tiger
头 tóu HSK 3
head; the top; end
蛇 shé HSK 5
snake; serpent; variant of 蛇shé
尾 wěi HSK 5
tail; remainder; remnant