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尚方宝剑

Traditional (Taiwan): 尚方寶劍

shàngfāngbǎojiàn ㄕㄤˋ ㄈㄤ ㄅㄠˇ ㄐㄧㄢˋ

    • imperial sword (giving bearer arbitrary powers)
    • in fiction, Chinese version of 007's license to kill

Character by character

Other words read shàngfāngbǎojiàn

In the same tone

Saying俗语俗語

Idiom惯用语 · Widely known

Literally
the sword from the imperial workshop
Meaning
The sword an emperor gave an official so he could act in his name. Now it means backing or a mandate from above that lets someone act with authority.

Sources