📖 Meaning
Both sides in a conflict suffer losses, with neither gaining an advantage. The phrase describes a situation where mutual hostility leaves all parties worse off. It warns that fighting to the bitter end typically harms everyone involved.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase traces to a story recorded in the Records of the Grand Historian (史记·张仪列传). Bian Zhuangzi (卞庄子), a brave warrior of the Lu state during the Spring and Autumn period, spotted two tigers about to fight over an ox and prepared to attack them. An inn boy advised him to wait, reasoning that after the tigers battled, the larger one would be wounded and the smaller one dead. Bian Zhuangzi could then strike the injured survivor and claim the achievement of slaying two tigers with a single blow. The anecdote illustrates the strategy of letting two opponents weaken each other before acting.
💡 Example Usage
如果双方都不肯让步，最终只会两败俱伤，谁也得不到好处。
If neither side is willing to compromise, both will ultimately suffer losses and neither will gain any benefit.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 两败俱伤
- Pinyin: liǎng bài jù shāng
- Literal Translation: both, defeat, together, suffer
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4