揠苗助長

Chinese

		eradicate; pull up	sprout; seedling; descendant sprout; seedling; descendant; symptom of a trend; young; vaccine; Miao tribe	to encourage growth; to foster; to contribute to a development to encourage growth; to foster; to contribute to a development; to drive
trad. (揠苗助長)		揠	苗	助長
simp. (揠苗助长)		揠	苗	助长

Etymology

宋人有閔其苗之不長而揠之者，芒芒然歸。謂其人曰：「今日病矣，予助苗長矣。」其子趨而往視之，苗則槁矣。
天下之不助苗長者寡矣。以為無益而捨之者，不耘苗者也；助之長者，揠苗者也。非徒無益，而又害之。 [Classical Chinese, trad.][▼ expand/hide]

宋人有闵其苗之不长而揠之者，芒芒然归。谓其人曰：“今日病矣，予助苗长矣。”其子趋而往视之，苗则槁矣。
天下之不助苗长者寡矣。以为无益而舍之者，不耘苗者也；助之长者，揠苗者也。非徒无益，而又害之。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: Mencius, circa 4^th century BCE

Sòng rén yǒu mǐn qí miáo zhī bù zhǎng ér yà zhī zhě, mángmángrán guī. Wèi qí rén yuē: “Jīnrì bìng yǐ, yǔ zhù miáo zhǎng yǐ.” Qí zǐ qū ér wǎng shì zhī, miáo zé gǎo yǐ.
Tiānxià zhī bù zhù miáo zhǎng zhě guǎ yǐ. Yǐwéi wúyì ér shě zhī zhě, bù yún miáo zhě yě; zhù zhī zhǎng zhě, yà miáo zhě yě. Fēitú wúyì, ér yòu hài zhī. [Pinyin]

There was a man of Song, who was grieved that his growing corn was not longer, and so he pulled it up. Having done this, he returned home, looking very troubled, and said to his people, “I am tired today. I have been helping the corn to grow long.” His son ran to look at it, and found the corn all withered.
There are few in the world, who do not deal with their passion-nature, as if they were assisting the corn to grow long. Some indeed consider it of no benefit to them, and let it alone ― they do not weed their corn. They who assist it to grow long, pull out their corn. What they do is not only of no benefit to the nature, but it also injures it.

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): yàmiáozhùzhǎng

(Zhuyin): ㄧㄚˋ ㄇㄧㄠˊ ㄓㄨˋ ㄓㄤˇ
Cantonese (Jyutping): aat³ miu⁴ zo⁶ zoeng²

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Pinyin: yàmiáozhùzhǎng
  - Zhuyin: ㄧㄚˋ ㄇㄧㄠˊ ㄓㄨˋ ㄓㄤˇ
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: yahmiaujuhjaang
  - IPA ^(key): /i̯ä⁵¹ mi̯ɑʊ̯³⁵ ʈ͡ʂu⁵¹ ʈ͡ʂɑŋ²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
- (Standard Chinese, erhua-ed)⁺
  - Pinyin: yàmiáorzhùzhǎng
  - Zhuyin: ㄧㄚˋ ㄇㄧㄠˊㄦㄓㄨˋ ㄓㄤˇ
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: yahmiauljuhjaang
  - IPA ^(key): /i̯ä⁵¹ mjaʊɻʷ³⁵ ʈ͡ʂu⁵¹ ʈ͡ʂɑŋ²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
  - Jyutping: aat³ miu⁴ zo⁶ zoeng²
  - Yale: aat mìuh joh jéung
  - Cantonese Pinyin: aat⁸ miu⁴ dzo⁶ dzoeng²
  - Guangdong Romanization: ad³ miu⁴ zo⁶ zêng²
  - IPA ^(key): /äːt̚³ miːu̯²¹ t͡sɔː²² t͡ʃœ̽ːŋ³⁵/

Idiom

揠苗助長

(figuratively) to spoil things through excessive enthusiasm

Synonyms

拔苗助長／拔苗助长 (bámiáozhùzhǎng)

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