📖 Meaning
This idiom literally means cutting off a piece of one's own flesh to feed a tiger. Figuratively, it describes a futile act of self-sacrifice that cannot possibly satisfy the other party's insatiable greed — no matter how much one gives up, the demand only grows. It warns that appeasing an insatiable desire through self-harm is both meaningless and self-destructive.
📜 Origin Story
This expression has no recorded literary origin or attributed author; the 出处 is marked as 无 in authoritative references. It is a folk-derived figurative saying that draws on the vivid and terrifying image of feeding a hungry tiger with one's own body. The metaphor implies that the tiger's hunger is endless, so any sacrifice is doomed to fail. In practice, it is used as a cautionary proverb rather than a quotation from a specific classical text.
💡 Example Usage
一味割肉饲虎，只会让对方更加贪得无厌。
Blindly cutting off your own flesh to feed the tiger will only make the other side even more insatiable.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 割肉饲虎
- Pinyin: gē ròu sì hǔ
- Literal Translation: cut, flesh, feed, tiger
- Category: Morality
- Characters: 4