卸磨殺驢

Chinese

		unload; take off	grindstone; to sharpen; to delay grindstone; to sharpen; to delay; hardship; to grind; to rub	to kill; to murder; to slaughter	donkey
trad. (卸磨殺驢)		卸	磨	殺	驢
simp. (卸磨杀驴)		卸	磨	杀	驴
Literally: “to kill the donkey the moment it is released of the millstone”.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): xièmòshālǘ

  (Zhuyin): ㄒㄧㄝˋ ㄇㄛˋ ㄕㄚ ㄌㄩˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): se³ mo⁴ saat³ leoi⁴

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: xièmòshālǘ
    • Zhuyin: ㄒㄧㄝˋ ㄇㄛˋ ㄕㄚ ㄌㄩˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: sièmòshalyú
    • Wade–Giles: hsieh⁴-mo⁴-sha¹-lü²
    • Yale: syè-mwò-shā-lyú
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shiehmohshaliu
    • Palladius: семошалюй (semošaljuj)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɕi̯ɛ⁵¹⁻⁵³ mu̯ɔ⁵¹ ʂä⁵⁵ ly³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: se³ mo⁴ saat³ leoi⁴
    • Yale: se mòh saat lèuih
    • Cantonese Pinyin: se³ mo⁴ saat⁸ loey⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: sé³ mo⁴ sad³ lêu⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sɛː³³ mɔː²¹ saːt̚³ lɵy̯²¹/

Idiom

卸磨殺驢

1. (figuratively) to get rid of somebody, or something, or both, upon ceasing to be useful

   • 十九年來，美國政府在亞洲、非洲和拉丁美洲的一些國家，策劃了多次反革命軍事政變，甚至對於它自己扶植起來的走狗，例如吳庭豔之流，只要一旦不再合乎它的心意，馬上卸磨殺驢，也採取暴力手段除掉。 [MSC, trad.]
     十九年来，美国政府在亚洲、非洲和拉丁美洲的一些国家，策划了多次反革命军事政变，甚至对于它自己扶植起来的走狗，例如吴庭艳之流，只要一旦不再合乎它的心意，马上卸磨杀驴，也采取暴力手段除掉。 [MSC, simp.]

     From: 1964, 《無產階級革命和赫魯曉夫修正主義——八評蘇共中央的公開信》 (The Proletarian Revolution and Khrushchov's Revisionism—Comment on the Open Letter of the Central Committee of the CPSU (VIII)), translated based on the Foreign Languages Press edition

     Shíjiǔ nián lái, Měiguó zhèngfǔ zài Yàzhōu, Fēizhōu hé Lādīng Měizhōu de yīxiē guójiā, cèhuà le duōcì fǎngémìng jūnshì zhèngbiàn, shènzhì duìyú tā zìjǐ fúzhí qǐlai de zǒugǒu, lìrú Wú Tíngyàn zhīliú, zhǐyào yīdàn bùzài héhū tā de xīnyì, mǎshàng xièmóshālǘ, yě cǎiqǔ bàolì shǒuduàn chúdiào. [Pinyin]

     During these nineteen years, the U.S. Government has engineered numerous counter-revolutionary military coups d'état in a number of countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. It has even used violence to remove puppets of its own fostering, such as Ngo Dinh Diem, once they have ceased to suit its purposes—“kill the donkey as soon as you take it from the mill-stone”, as the saying goes.