虎の威を借る狐

とらのいをかるきつね

Also written トラの威を借るキツネ

Meanings

1. Expression small person acting arrogantly on someone else's authority; person who borrows the authority of another to browbeat others (literally: a fox that borrows the authority of a tiger)

Kanji

• 虎 tiger. Read as とら.
• 威 might
• 借 borrow
• 狐 fox. Read as きつね.

Word lists

• Idioms

Jinuma: Japanese Dictionary · Word lists