tương kế
Definition
- Noun:
- A stratagem, a ruse, or a scheme: A clever and often deceptive plan or maneuver designed to achieve a specific objective, typically within a conflict or competitive situation. It implies tactical cunning.
- A counter-scheme: A specific plan devised in response to an opponent's own scheme, turning their tactic against them.
Usage Examples
- Noun:
- Đó là một tương kế rất tinh vi. (That is a very sophisticated stratagem.)
- Chúng tôi cần nghĩ ra một tương kế để đối phó. (We need to devise a counter-scheme to deal with this.)
- Tướng quân đã dùng tương kế của địch để đánh bại chúng. (The general used the enemy's own ruse to defeat them.)
Advanced Usage
- The term is most famously and commonly used in the four-character idiom "tương kế tựu kế".
- "Tương kế tựu kế": To turn someone's own trick against them; to use the enemy's stratagem against the enemy. It describes the act of adapting and deploying an opponent's scheme for one's own benefit.
- Thay vì phản công, hãy tương kế tựu kế. (Instead of counter-attacking, let's turn their own plan against them.)
Variants and Related Words
- Kế (n): plan, scheme, stratagem. This is the root word within "tương kế".
- Kế sách (n): strategy, plan of action.
- Mưu kế (n): plot, scheme (often with a cunning or deceitful connotation).
Synonyms
- Stratagem: A clever scheme or maneuver.
- Ruse: A deceptive trick or tactic.
- Ploy: A cunning plan to gain an advantage.
- Counterplot: A plot devised to oppose another plot.
Related Idioms
- Tương kế tựu kế: As detailed above, this is the primary and most significant idiom containing the word. It encapsulates the core meaning of a responsive, tactical counter-scheme.