煮豆燃萁

Chinese

to cook; to boil bean; sacrificial vessel burn; combustion stalks of pulse
trad. (煮豆燃萁) 煮 豆 燃 萁
simp. #(煮豆燃萁) 煮 豆 燃 萁
alternative forms 煮豆燃豆萁
Literally: “to boil beans by burning bean-stalks”.

Etymology

From The Quatrain of Seven Steps, a poem attributed to Cao Zhi, a prince of Cao Wei, in response to threat of execution by his elder brother, Emperor Wen of Wei.

煮豆燃豆萁，豆在釜中泣。本自同根生，相煎何太急。 [Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]
From: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, circa 14th century CE
Zhǔ dòu rán dòu qí, dòu zài fǔ zhōng qì. Běn zì tóng gēn shēng, xiàng jiān hé tài jí. [Pinyin]
Beans are boiled by burning bean-stalks; bean-seeds inside the pot sob: "We are born of one same root. Why incinerate each other too ardently?

Pronunciation

Idiom

煮豆燃萁

  1. to have a fratricidal strife; to have a fight between one's own men
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.