城府

chéngfǔ
noun #33,128

Meanings

  1. 1 depth of mind
  2. 2 shrewdness
  3. 3 guardedness
  4. 4 calculated reserve

Examples

Zhège rén chéngfǔ hěn shēn, hěn nán kàntòu.
This person is very deep — hard to see through.
Tā niánjì suī xiǎo, què hěn yǒu chéngfǔ.
Although she is young, she is very calculating.

Tips

usage
城府 almost always appears with (deep), as in 城府, describing someone who hides their thoughts behind a guarded exterior. It carries moral ambiguity: a sign of shrewdness, but also of being hard to trust. The opposite is 心直口快 ("straight heart, quick mouth").
history
Literally "city walls and government office" — both fortified, both layered. The metaphor: a guarded person is fortified like a walled city, with true intentions hidden in the inner offices.

Stroke Order

chéng