燒紙引鬼
shāo​zhǐ​yǐn​guǐ

to invite trouble by being kind

  • created sense approved 烧纸引鬼/燒紙引鬼 · shāo​zhǐ​yǐn​guǐ · to invite trouble by being kind — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    烧纸引鬼 / 燒紙引鬼

    shāo​zhǐ​yǐn​guǐ

    to invite trouble by being kind

    (idiom) to invite trouble by showing civility or kindness, or out of a sense of respect, literally meaning to burn paper money for the spirits but only succeed in attracting ghosts; to have good intentions backfire and lead to unnecessary misfortune

    烧纸 (literal) → 烧纸/燒紙 · shāo​zhǐ · to burn paper offerings 引 (literal) → 引 · yǐn · to cause 鬼 (literal) → 鬼 · guǐ · ghost

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

    created sense