外愚内智 — “Appearing foolish or naive on the outside”

Q: What is the Chinese definition of 外愚内智?

智：聪慧。外形笨拙憨厚，内心机智聪明

外愚内智 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “Appearing foolish or naive on the outside”. But possessing great wisdom or shrewdness within. Literally, “Outwardly foolish, inwardly wise”.

Frequency

外愚内智 Pronunciation and Pinyin

外愚内智 Character Breakdown

Stroke Order

Character	Pinyin	Strokes	Meaning
外	wài	5	outside, foreign, unofficial
愚	yú	13	foolish, stupid, ignorant
内	nèi	4	inside, inner, within
智	zhì	12	wisdom, intelligence

Example Sentence with 外愚内智

那个老园丁平时沉默寡言，看起来有些木讷，但每次大家遇到难题，他总能给出高明的解决方案，真是外愚内智

The old gardener was usually quiet and seemed a bit dull, but whenever everyone encountered difficulties, he could always provide brilliant solutions; he was truly outwardly foolish, inwardly wise.

Origin and Story of 外愚内智

During the late Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao appointed Xun You as his strategist. When Cao Cao's eastern campaign against Lu Bu stalled for a long time, Xun You offered ingenious plans, leading to the capture of Lu Bu alive. Later, he used his strategies again to kill Yuan Shao's formidable general Yan Liang.

Xun You was shrewd and intelligent, skilled in planning, yet he was unassuming on the surface and strictly guarded secrets, never allowing outsiders to know his true capabilities.

Cao Cao thus evaluated him as "outwardly foolish, inwardly wise"