窮鼠齧狸

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Chinese

exhausted; poor rat; mouse surname; gnaw raccoon dog; leopard cat
trad. (窮鼠齧狸/窮鼠嚙狸/窮鼠齧貍/窮鼠嚙貍) 窮 鼠 齧/嚙 狸/貍
simp. (穷鼠啮狸) 穷 鼠 啮 狸

Etymology

From the Discourses on Salt and Iron (鹽鐵論·詔聖 / 盐铁论·诏圣):

死不再生，窮鼠嚙狸，匹夫奔萬乘，舍人折弓，陳勝、吳廣是也。
死不再生，穷鼠啮狸，匹夫奔万乘，舍人折弓，陈胜、吴广是也。
From: Huan Kuan, Discourses on Salt and Iron, c. 1st century BCE
Sǐ bù zàishēng, qióng shǔ niè lí, pǐfū bēn wànchéng, shèrén zhé gōng, Chén Shèng, Wú Guǎng shì yě.
People cannot revive if they die, so a cornered rat will bite a cat; An ordinary man would go to assault the Emperor; A servant of a noble would destroy his bow. This is precisely the case of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang.

Pronunciation

Idiom

窮鼠齧狸

  1. (figurative) a cornered rat will bite a cat, weak people will attack when cornered

Synonyms

Descendants

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