📖 Meaning
Literally meaning to cut down trees and pull up their roots, this idiom is used as a metaphor for doing something thoroughly and completely. It emphasizes eliminating a problem at its very foundation so that nothing remains to regrow or resurface. The phrase conveys a sense of absolute, root-level thoroughness.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom draws from the practical wisdom of forestry and agriculture: merely cutting down a tree is insufficient to prevent it from sending up new shoots, so one must also remove the roots entirely. Over time, this concrete imagery evolved into a figurative expression for thoroughness and completeness. No single classical literary source is attributed as its definitive origin; rather, it circulated as folk wisdom before being recorded in common idiom compilations. The phrase shares conceptual kinship with similar agricultural metaphors found throughout Chinese vernacular literature.
💡 Example Usage
对待腐败问题，必须切树倒根，绝不姑息。
When dealing with corruption, one must eradicate it root and branch, showing absolutely no leniency.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 切树倒根
- Pinyin: qiē shù dǎo gēn
- Literal Translation: cut, tree, fell, root
- Category: Method
- Characters: 4