狐假虎威

hú jiǎ hǔ wēi

to bully others on borrowed authority

Character by character

狐hú
fox

假jiǎ
borrows

虎hǔ
tiger’s

威wēi
might

他不过是狐假虎威，仗着老板的名义欺负同事。

He is merely a fox borrowing the tiger’s might, bullying colleagues in the boss’s name.

Tone: negative (criticism).

The fox walked ahead of the tiger and claimed the fleeing animals feared him. 假 means “borrow”.

Learn this in Lesson 211 · HSK 9+: 俗语、谚语与歇后语 (Sayings, proverbs and two-part riddles)

A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.