📖 Meaning
A desperate dog will jump over a wall. It is a metaphor describing how a bad person, when driven into a corner with no way out, will act recklessly and cause trouble at any cost. It warns that cornered wrongdoers are at their most dangerous.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase traces back to the Dunhuang Bianwen collection 'Fu of the Swallow' (敦煌变文集·燕子赋), which contains the line 'A desperate person burns incense, a desperate dog climbs over a wall.' It was later popularized in classical vernacular literature, appearing prominently in Cao Xueqin's Dream of the Red Chamber (红楼梦) of the Qing dynasty. The metaphor gained currency as a warning that those with no escape become most reckless.
💡 Example Usage
敌人已经被包围，我们要小心他们狗急跳墙。
The enemy has been surrounded, so we must be careful that they don't lash out out of desperation.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 狗急跳墙
- Pinyin: gǒu jí tiào qiáng
- Literal Translation: dog, desperate, jump, wall
- Category: Action
- Characters: 4