CHENGYU
鸟尽弓藏(niǎo jìn gōng cáng)meaning, story and origin
- Register:
- literary
- Source:
- 《史记·越王勾践世家》
MEANING
- Literal
- the birds gone, the bow is put away
- Figurative meaning
- to discard helpers once their work is done
ORIGIN STORY
After helping King Goujian of Yue destroy the state of Wu, the advisor Fan Li warned his colleague: "When the birds are gone, the good bow is stored away; when the cunning hares are dead, the hunting dogs are boiled."
NATURAL EQUIVALENT
“to be thrown away like a squeezed lemon”
EXAMPLES
公司刚上市就裁员，真是鸟尽弓藏。Gōngsī gāng shàngshì jiù cáiyuán, zhēn shì niǎo jìn gōng cáng.HSK6
Laying people off right after the IPO is putting the bow away once the birds are gone.
功臣被冷落，让人感叹鸟尽弓藏。Gōngchén bèi lěngluò, ràng rén gǎntàn niǎo jìn gōng cáng.HSK6
Seeing the heroes sidelined makes people sigh — the birds gone, the bow stored.
COMMON MISTAKE
Watch out: It criticizes ingratitude toward helpers — not ordinary retirement or downsizing.
CHARACTER BREAKDOWN
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TRUST & SOURCES
- Reviewed by
- AI-assisted editorial review
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-15
- CC-CEDICT 2026-01-01