Hover over the characters to see the pinyin!

English Translation

lit.: the fox exploits the tiger's might
fig.: using powerful connections to intimidate or bully people

Breaking it down

1. 狐: fox
2. 假: to borrow, to avail oneself of
3. 虎: tiger
4. 威: strength, power

Source: Google Image Search

Story in Chinese

Classical Chinese

虎求百兽而食之，得狐。
狐曰：“子无敢食我也。天帝使我长百兽，今子食我，是逆天帝命也。子以我为不信，吾为子先行，子随我后，观百兽之见我而敢不走乎?
”虎以为然，故遂与之行。兽见之皆走。虎不知兽畏己而走也，以为畏狐也。

Modern Chinese

老虎寻找各种野兽吃掉他们，抓到一只狐狸。 狐狸说：“您不敢吃我！上帝派遣我来做各种野兽的首领，现在你吃掉我，是违背上帝的命令。
你认为我的话不诚实，我在你前面行走，你跟随在我后面，观看各种野兽看见我有敢不逃跑的吗？”老虎认为狐狸的话是有道理的，所以就和它一起走。
野兽看见它们都逃跑了。老虎不知道野兽是害怕自己而逃跑的，认为它们是害怕狐狸。

Source: baike.baidu.com

Story in English

A tiger was looking for various wild adnimals to eat them, and caught a fox. But the fox said: "You don't dare to eat me! God sent me to be the leader of all wild animals. But if you eat me now, then you are acting against God's command. If you think I am being dishonest, then just let me walk in front of you, and you walk behind me, and witness that all kinds of animals will flee from me."
The tiger thought the fox was being reasonable, and so walked behind the fox.
The animals who saw them immediately ran away from them. The tiger did not know they were running from him, and thought they were fearing the fox instead.

Translation by Celine Li

Usage

小狗看到主人在身边，马上狐假虎威地对大狗叫起来。