迎刃而解

Pronunciation: yíng rèn ér jiě Literal meaning: Split apart upon meeting the blade

Origin & Usage

This idiom originates from the Jin Dynasty general Du Yu's description of his military campaign, where he likened enemy resistance to bamboo that splits upon meeting (迎) the blade (刃). Once the first joint splits, the rest follows easily (而解). The phrase emphasizes how problems, once properly approached, often resolve with surprising ease. It suggests finding the right approach or leverage point that makes seemingly difficult challenges straightforward. Modern usage describes problems that dissolve once the correct solution is applied.

Examples

English: "Once we identified the root cause, the problem was easily solved."

Chinese: 一旦找到根本原因，问题就迎刃而解了。