📖 Meaning
Literally 'to hold fire and place it under firewood.' It is a metaphor for a situation where danger is imminent yet people mistakenly believe they are safe, like sleeping on a pile of kindling with a flame hidden beneath. It warns of concealed crisis lurking beneath apparent tranquility.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from the 'Biography of Jia Yi' in the Book of Han (汉书·贾谊传). Jia Yi was a brilliant scholar of the early Western Han dynasty serving under Emperor Wen. Although the empire appeared peaceful and prosperous, Jia Yi submitted a memorial warning that the current state of affairs was like holding fire and placing it beneath a pile of firewood while sleeping on top — just because the fire had not yet ignited, one could not call the situation safe. He argued that the dynasty's circumstances were no different from this peril. His warnings were largely overlooked at the time but later proved remarkably prescient.
💡 Example Usage
面对日益严峻的债务危机，若仍不及时改革，无异于抱火厝薪。
Faced with an ever-graver debt crisis, to delay reform now is tantamount to holding fire beneath a pile of kindling.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 抱火厝薪
- Pinyin: bào huǒ cuò xīn
- Literal Translation: hold, fire, place, firewood
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4