







欲扬先抑 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to first suppress or downplay something in order to make its subsequent praise, elevation, or positive aspect more prominent and impactful; a rhetorical device to build anticipation or emphasize a contrast”. Literally, “Suppress first, then raise/praise”.

Chinese and English fill-in vocabulary worksheets
Open the tool →
Turn a Chinese character or sentence into a GIF or MP4
Open the tool →
Choose character parts and animate their colors, together or in stroke order
Open the tool →
Printable tracing sheets with a QR learning companion
Open the tool →欲扬先抑 (yù yáng xiān yì) is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to first suppress or downplay something in order to make its subsequent praise, elevation, or positive aspect more prominent and impactful; a rhetorical device to build anticipation or emphasize a contrast”.
欲扬先抑 is pronounced yù yáng xiān yì in Mandarin Chinese.
Literally, 欲扬先抑 means “Suppress first, then raise/praise”. It is used to mean “to first suppress or downplay something in order to make its subsequent praise, elevation, or positive aspect more prominent and impactful; a rhetorical device to build anticipation or emphasize a contrast”.
要发扬、放开,先控制、压抑。