📖 Meaning
Literally cutting the long legs of a crane to lengthen the short legs of a wild duck. It is a metaphor for acting against natural laws and attempting things that cannot succeed. The idiom warns against forcing changes that contradict the inherent nature of things.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the philosophical text Zhuangzi (庄子), specifically the chapter '骈拇' (Webbed Toes), composed during the Warring States period by the Daoist philosopher Zhuang Zhou. In this passage, Zhuangzi observes that a crane's legs are long and a duck's legs are short by nature, and argues that one should neither shorten the crane's legs nor lengthen the duck's, as doing so would violate the natural order. He uses this imagery to critique artificial interference with the way of nature. The idiom thus embodies the Daoist principle of wuwei (non-action) and respecting the inherent qualities of all things.
💡 Example Usage
教育应因材施教，断鹤继凫只会适得其反。
Education should be tailored to each student's aptitude; forcing everyone into the same mold will only backfire.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 断鹤继凫
- Pinyin: duan he xu fu
- Literal Translation: cut, crane, lengthen, wild duck
- Category: Philosophy
- Characters: 4