📖 Meaning
A metaphor for getting rid of one harm only to have another take its place. It describes the futile situation where eliminating one danger simply invites an equally serious threat. The phrase is a variant of the more common 拒虎进狼.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom derives from folk wisdom reflecting the rural reality that both wolves and tigers posed deadly threats to livestock and people. While no single classical text is cited as its definitive source, it circulates as a proverbial expression warning against trading one peril for another. It is often used interchangeably with the more widely recorded 拒虎进狼, which appears in vernacular fiction and commentary literature of the Ming and Qing dynasties.
💡 Example Usage
刚辞退了一个庸医，又遇上一个更黑的诊所，真是拒狼进虎，病情愈发延误。
Having just dismissed one quack doctor, he ended up at an even more unscrupulous clinic—truly a case of refusing the wolf only to let in the tiger, and his illness grew even more delayed.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 拒狼进虎
- Pinyin: jù láng jìn hǔ
- Literal Translation: refuse, wolf, admit, tiger
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4