避实就虚
bì shí jiù xū
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Traditional: 避實就虛
To avoid meeting an opponent's strength head-on and to hit their weak spots instead. Also said of a speaker who dodges the real issue and talks about side matters.
Tránh chỗ mạnh, đánh vào chỗ yếu của đối phương. Cũng dùng để nói người khi trả lời thì né vấn đề cốt lõi, chỉ nói những chuyện bên lề.
Register: formal
Examples
Editorial example (illustrative, not a corpus attestation) — awaiting a native-speaker check
Sources & notes
Hán-Việt bridge batch 062 (2026-11-13). Headword, Traditional form and pinyin checked against CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0) source ↗ · Hán-Việt reading: Unihan kVietnamese source ↗ ; en.wiktionary Vietnamese entries via kaikki.org extract, snapshot 2026-07-31 (CC BY-SA 4.0): Hán-Việt reading 就 = tựu · Vietnamese cognate: Idiomer entry “tị thật tựu hư” (ti-that-tuu-hu). Definition, literal gloss and example sentence are original; the example has not had a native-speaker check yet.
Equivalents & related
Common questions
What does “避实就虚” mean?
To avoid meeting an opponent's strength head-on and to hit their weak spots instead. Also said of a speaker who dodges the real issue and talks about side matters. Literally: shun the solid, head for the hollow
Is “避实就虚” formal or informal?
避实就虚 is generally formal.