📖 Meaning
To shut one's mouth and stop in one's tracks. It describes someone who, out of fear or concern, dares neither to speak nor to approach, keeping at a safe distance. The idiom conveys how people avoid a situation entirely when they perceive danger or risk.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from 'Zhan Guo Ce' (Strategies of the Warring States), in the chapter on the Strategies of Qin. The statesman Fan Sui (范雎) warned King Zhao of Qin that if loyal ministers who served the state faithfully were met with suspicion or ruin, others would see their fate and be terrified. Consequently, talented people would shut their mouths and refuse to step forward, depriving the ruler of able counsel. The phrase thus captures the chilling effect that punishing the loyal has on recruiting talent.
💡 Example Usage
面对权贵的威压，百姓们杜口裹足，不敢直言时弊。
Under the pressure of the powerful, the common people shut their mouths and kept their distance, not daring to speak openly about the abuses of the times.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 杜口裹足
- Pinyin: dù kǒu guǒ zú
- Literal Translation: shut mouth, wrap feet
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4