飲鴆止渴

Chinese

		drink	a mythical bird; poisonous; to poison	to quench one's thirst
trad. (飲鴆止渴)		飲	鴆	止渴
simp. (饮鸩止渴)		饮	鸩	止渴
Literally: “to drink poisonous liquor to quench thirst”.

Etymology

Based on a quote in Book of Later Han:

• 譬猶療飢於附子，止渴於酖毒，未入膓胃，已絕咽喉，豈可爲哉！ [Literary Chinese, trad.]

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  譬犹疗饥于附子，止渴于鸩毒，未入肠胃，已绝咽喉，岂可为哉！ [Literary Chinese, simp.]

  From: The Book of the Later Han, circa 5^th century CE

  Pìyóu liáojī yú fùzǐ, zhǐkě yú zhèndú, wèi rù chángwèi, yǐ jué yānhóu, qǐ kě wéi zāi! [Pinyin]

  It's like sating hunger with aconite roots and slaking thirst with zhen's poison; they would not even enter the stomach and guts before already having killed by blocking off the throat; how can such a thing be done?

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): yǐnzhènzhǐkě

  (Zhuyin): ㄧㄣˇ ㄓㄣˋ ㄓˇ ㄎㄜˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): jam² zam⁶ zi² hot³

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: yǐnzhènzhǐkě [Phonetic: yǐnzhènzhíkě]
    • Zhuyin: ㄧㄣˇ ㄓㄣˋ ㄓˇ ㄎㄜˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: yǐnjhènjhǐhkě
    • Wade–Giles: yin³-chên⁴-chih³-kʻo³
    • Yale: yǐn-jèn-jř-kě
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: yiinjennjyykee
    • Palladius: иньчжэньчжикэ (inʹčžɛnʹčžikɛ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /in²¹⁴⁻²¹ ʈ͡ʂən⁵¹ ʈ͡ʂʐ̩²¹⁴⁻³⁵ kʰɤ²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: jam² zam⁶ zi² hot³
    • Yale: yám jahm jí hot
    • Cantonese Pinyin: jam² dzam⁶ dzi² hot⁸
    • Guangdong Romanization: yem² zem⁶ ji² hod³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jɐm³⁵ t͡sɐm²² t͡siː³⁵ hɔːt̚³/

Idiom

飲鴆止渴

1. to do something harmful in order to seek any relief