📖 Meaning
Literally describing wolves charging forward and hawks spreading their wings in predatory fashion. It is used to depict wicked or lawless people acting in a wildly arrogant, aggressive, and unrestrained manner. The idiom conveys the extreme brazenness with which evildoers rampage through society.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom draws on traditional Chinese imagery comparing violent, predatory behavior to wild beasts and birds of prey. Wolves symbolize packs of marauding bandits, while the owl-like bird (鸱) spreading its wings evokes menacing, opportunistic aggression. Such animal-based metaphors appear throughout classical Chinese historical writing, where officials and historians described rebellions, foreign invasions, or corrupt factions that terrorized the populace. The phrase is typically used to condemn those who, emboldened by chaos or power, openly flout moral and legal restraints.
💡 Example Usage
这群土匪狼突鸱张，烧杀抢掠，搅得一方百姓不得安宁。
This band of brigands ran rampant like wolves and hawks, looting and killing until they threw the entire region into turmoil.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 狼突鸱张
- Pinyin: láng tū chī zhāng
- Literal Translation: wolf rushes, hawk spreads its wings
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4