📖 Meaning
This idiom describes the total collapse of a regime or entity caused by internal decay and civil strife rather than external attack. The bird burns its own nest, and the fish rots from the inside out — both metaphors for self-inflicted destruction.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom fuses two classical sources. The first half comes from the Book of Changes (《易·旅》), which describes a bird that burns its own nest after a moment of laughter turns to wailing. The second half comes from the Gongyang Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals (《公羊传·僖公十九年》), which explains the fall of the state of Liang during the Spring and Autumn period — it perished not from invasion but from internal decay, like a fish rotting from within. The idiom was later used in the Old Book of Tang (《旧唐书》) to describe rebel forces that collapsed from their own corruption.
💡 Example Usage
这个王朝鸟焚鱼烂，终因内乱而覆灭。
This dynasty collapsed like a bird burning its nest and a fish rotting from within, ultimately destroyed by internal strife.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 鸟焚鱼烂
- Pinyin: niǎo fén yú làn
- Literal Translation: bird, burned, fish, rotted
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4