赔了夫人又折兵

1. • lit. having given away a bride, to lose one's army on top of it (idiom)
2. • fig. to suffer a double loss after trying to trick the enemy

Character by character

• 赔(péi)compensate for loss
• 了(le)marks a completed action
• 夫(fū)husband
• 人(rén)person
• 又(yòu)again
• 折(zhé)break
• 兵(bīng)soldiers