8 Chinese Idioms With Pig (猪)

Borrow authority to intimidate

Literal meaning: Fox uses tiger's power

This idiom emerged from a Warring States period fable where a fox (狐) borrowed (假) the authority (威) of a tiger (虎) to intimidate other animals. The story first appeared in the Zhan Guo Ce, using the clever fox and powerful tiger to criticize political parasites who derived their influence from powe...

Wait passively for luck

Literal meaning: Guard tree wait rabbit

This Warring States period parable tells of a farmer who, after seeing a rabbit die by running into a tree stump (株), waited (待) endlessly for more rabbits (兔) at the same spot. His guard (守) of the stump became a classic example of misguided persistence and inflexible thinking. The story appeared i...

Repeated lie becomes truth

Literal meaning: Three people make tiger real

This idiom originates from the Wei state minister Pang Cong's warning to his king about how three (三) people's (人) repeated lies can make even an absurd claim - like a tiger (虎) loose in the marketplace - seem true (成). The story, recorded in Warring States texts, demonstrates how repeated rumors ca...

Present to wrong audience

Literal meaning: Play zither to cow

This satirical idiom describes playing (弹) the guqin zither (琴) to (对) a cow (牛), originating from the Warring States period. Historical records attribute it to musician Gongming Yi, who attempted to perform sophisticated melodies for a cow that continued grazing, completely indifferent to the refin...

Professed love hiding actual fear

Literal meaning: Lord Ye loves dragons

This ironic tale tells of Lord Ye (叶公) who professed to love (好) dragons (龙) but fled in terror when faced with a real one. During the Six Dynasties period, it became a standard criticism of superficial appreciation without genuine understanding. The dragon imagery carried particular weight in Chine...

Completely stunned or dumbfounded

Literal meaning: Dumbfounded like wooden chicken

Zhuangzi's Daoist texts introduced this vivid image of being stunned (呆) like a wooden chicken (木鸡), originally describing meditation-induced stillness. Han Dynasty writers transformed it into a description of shock-induced paralysis. The comparison to a wooden chicken proved particularly apt - thes...

To lose everything; complete failure

Literal meaning: Chicken flies away and eggs broken

This vivid idiom depicts the scene of trying to catch a chicken and accidentally breaking its eggs in the process - losing both the bird and its potential offspring. It emerged from rural Chinese life where chickens represented valuable assets. The phrase captures the frustration of a double loss, p...

Add to one's strength; become even more powerful

Literal meaning: Like tiger adding wings

This idiom describes being like a tiger (如虎) that adds (添) wings (翼). A tiger is already formidable; with wings, it becomes unstoppable. The phrase describes adding capabilities to something already powerful. It appeared in texts describing reinforcements to already strong positions. Modern usage de...