城府

chéngfǔ
  1. subtle
  2. shrewd
  3. sophisticated

CEDICT

  1. (figurative, derogatory) one's (sophisticated and indecipherable) protection of one's own thoughts
  2. (literary) city and government authorities protected by walls and moats
  3. city and government authorities protected by walls and moats
  4. one's (sophisticated and indecipherable) protection of one's own thoughts

Wiktionary

  1. 城邑和衙署。
  2. 比喻人的心機。

重編國語辭典

  1. 喻人心思让人琢磨不透，为人不坦率，心机很深。貶義。
  2. 喻人有心机谋略，思想深沉。褒義。
  3. 官府；院落，府第。

維基詞典

Entry Composition

1 城 chéng
  1. city walls
  2. city
  3. town

classifiers: 座, 道, 個
2 府 fǔ
  1. seat of government
  2. government repository (archive)
  3. official residence
  4. mansion
  5. presidential palace
  6. (honorific) Your home
  7. prefecture (from Tang to Qing times)

Containing this entry

胸有城府 xiōngyǒuchéngfǔ
  1. subtle way of thinking (idiom); hard to fathom
  2. deep and shrewd
胸無城府 xiōngwúchéngfǔ
  1. open and candid (idiom); not hiding anything
  2. ingenuous

Related entries

微妙 wēimiào subtle
那是个微妙的局势。

That's a delicate matter.

Source: Tatoeba

精微 jīngwēi
  1. subtle
  2. profound
幽微 yōuwēi
  1. faint
  2. subtle (of sound, scent etc)
  3. profound
  4. mysterious
  5. dim
細微 xìwēi
  1. tiny
  2. minute
  3. fine
  4. subtle
  5. sensitive (instruments)
猴兒精 hóurjīng
  1. (dialect) shrewd
  2. clever
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