二桃杀三士
èr​táo​shā​sān​shì

to kill someone by setting a trap

  • created sense approved 二桃杀三士/二桃殺三士 · èr​táo​shā​sān​shì · to kill someone by setting a trap — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    二桃杀三士 / 二桃殺三士

    èr​táo​shā​sān​shì

    to kill someone by setting a trap

    To kill others through a clever scheme; specifically to incite internal conflict. This refers to a story from the Spring and Autumn period where the minister Yan Ying eliminated three powerful warriors by giving them only two peaches, causing them to argue over their merits and eventually commit suicide.

    二 (literal) → 二 · èr · two 桃 (literal) → 桃 · táo · peach 杀 (literal) → 杀/殺 · shā · to kill 三士 (literal) → 三士 · sān​shì · three practitioners

    Changed: simplified, traditional, gloss, definition, pinyin, variant pinyin, variants, separable parts, decomposition

    created sense