# The most common Chinese idioms (chengyu) and their stories

The four-character idioms Chinese speakers use every day, each with the ancient story behind it and its meaning.

- 0 votes · 16 items
- Nov 6, 2020 · frame24_lost
- https://even.best/en/l/1251/the-most-common-chinese-idioms-chengyu-and-their-stories

## Top 15

1. **Drawing legs on a snake** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — From the Warring States records: a man finished drawing his snake first, added legs and lost the contest. Doing something unnecessary that ruins it.
2. **Waiting by a tree stump for a hare** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — From the Han Feizi: a farmer saw a hare die against a stump and waited there for more. Relying on luck instead of effort.
3. **Mending the pen after the sheep is lost** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — From the Warring States records: it's not too late to fix the pen after losing a sheep. Fix a problem before it gets worse.
4. **Playing the lute to a cow** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — From a Han dynasty text: the cow can't appreciate the music. Wasting words on the wrong audience.
5. **A frog at the bottom of a well** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — From the Zhuangzi: the frog thinks the sky is as big as the well's mouth. Someone with a narrow view.
6. **The old man at the frontier loses his horse** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — From the Huainanzi: the lost horse came back with another fine horse. A misfortune may be a blessing in disguise.
7. **Sleeping on brushwood and tasting gall** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — King Goujian of Yue slept on brushwood and tasted bile to remember his defeat until he took revenge. Enduring hardship to achieve a goal.
8. **The fox borrowing the tiger's might** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — From the Warring States records: the fox walked ahead of the tiger to scare the other animals. Using someone else's power to bully others.
9. **Covering one's ears to steal a bell** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — From the Lüshi Chunqiu: the thief covered his own ears, thinking no one would hear. Fooling oneself.
10. **Spear and shield contradicting each other** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — From the Han Feizi: a seller claimed his spear pierced everything and his shield stopped everything. Self-contradiction.
11. **Adding the eyes when painting a dragon** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Legend says painter Zhang Sengyou's dragons flew away once he painted their eyes. The finishing touch that brings something to life.
12. **Marking the boat to find a lost sword** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — From the Lüshi Chunqiu: a man marked the boat where his sword fell into the river. Clinging to methods that no longer apply.
13. **Breaking the cauldrons and sinking the boats** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Xiang Yu destroyed his army's pots and boats after crossing a river so there was no way back. Burning one's bridges.
14. **Having the bamboo already in one's mind** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — The Song painter Wen Tong pictured the whole bamboo before painting it. Having a well-thought-out plan beforehand.
15. **Mistaking the bow's reflection in a cup for a snake** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — A guest fell ill thinking the reflection of a bow in his wine was a snake. Being frightened by imaginary fears.
16. **One stone, two birds** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Killing two birds with one stone.

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