胸有成竹 (xiōng yǒu chéng zhú)

Character breakdown

• 胸 (xiōng) · 10 strokes

  Phonosemantic compound. ⺼ represents the meaning and 匈 represents the sound.

• 有 (yǒu) · 6 strokes

  Depicts a hand (又) holding meat (肉). In Oracle script this character was written the same as the phonetically similar 又, but later the 肉 component was added to distinguish them.

• 成 (Chéng) · 6 strokes

  Depicts defending city walls (丁) with an axe (戌). 丁 also represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "city", now written as 城. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

• 竹 (zhú) · 6 strokes

  Pictograph of bamboo stalks.

Usage

考试前他早已胸有成竹。

(idiom) to have a well thought out plan in mind

kǎo shì qián tā zǎo yǐ xiōng yǒu chéng zhú 。