惊弓之鸟

Pronunciation: jīng gōng zhī niǎo Literal meaning: A bird startled by the bow

Origin & Usage

Geng Lei told the King of Wei he could bring down a bird without an arrow. A goose came over, he plucked the empty bowstring, and it dropped. Asked how, he said he had read the bird: 飞徐者，故疮痛也；鸣悲者，久失群也 — it flew slowly because an old wound still hurt, and cried sadly because it had long been separated from its flock. At the sound of the string it climbed, tore the wound open and fell. The Strategies of the Warring States tells it as a lesson about a defeated army. The bird (鸟) startled (惊) by the bow (弓) alone is the image, and it describes anyone whose past injury does the enemy's work for them.

Examples

English: "After the incident, he became very jumpy and anxious."

Chinese: 事件发生后，他变得像惊弓之鸟一样，十分紧张。