📖 Meaning
To devise strategies and plans for handling affairs. It commonly refers to offering ideas, suggestions, and schemes to help someone solve a problem or achieve a goal, often from behind the scenes.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom derives from the Ming dynasty novel "Chronicles of the Eastern Zhou Kingdoms" (东周列国志) by Feng Menglong, in Chapter 69. There a passage criticizes someone who "wavered and watched from the sidelines, never devising any surprising strategies, merely riding on others' accomplishments." The phrase 画策 (to devise a plan) appears in the source text, and the idiom has long been used to describe the act of counseling others with well-thought-out schemes.
💡 Example Usage
公司遇到难题时，他总能为领导出谋画策，化解危机。
When the company faced difficulties, he would always devise strategies for the leaders and defuse the crisis.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 出谋画策
- Pinyin: chū móu huà cè
- Literal Translation: issue stratagem, devise policy
- Category: Leadership
- Characters: 4