Meaning: Beat the grass and startle the snake (to alert the enemy prematurely)
Summary: The idiom 打草惊蛇 (dǎ cǎo jīng shé) describes a situation where a person's impulsive or ill-considered actions inadvertently tip off an opponent. It is the Chinese equivalent of 'waking a sleeping dog' or 'tipping one's hand.' In modern conversation, it is most frequently used in the negative form, such as 以免打草惊蛇 (yǐ miǎn dǎ cǎo jīng shé), to emphasize the need for stealth and caution to avoid alerting a target.
Read the full transcript with multilingual translations, meaning/usage notes, examples, and cultural context:
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每天成语. Innehållet i podden är skapat av 每天成语 och inte av,
eller tillsammans med, Poddtoppen.
