📖 Meaning
Literally 'a dog chasing a rat.' It is a metaphor for meddling in affairs that are none of one's business or doing work outside one's proper role. It is equivalent to the more common idiom 狗拿耗子.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase appears in Zhou Libo's novel《暴风骤雨》(The Hurricane), Part One, Chapter Nine, where a character says, 'You dog chasing a rat, what business is it of yours?' The idiom draws on the folk observation that catching rats is a cat's job, so when a dog does it, the dog is overstepping its bounds. Over time it became a popular colloquial expression for someone who meddles in matters outside their responsibility. It is a variant of the more widespread 狗拿耗子.
💡 Example Usage
这事儿跟你没关系，你别狗追耗子多管闲事。
This has nothing to do with you, so stop meddling in other people's business.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 狗追耗子
- Pinyin: gǒu zhuī hào zǐ
- Literal Translation: dog, chase, rat, son
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4