📖 Meaning
Flesh presses against flesh and bones join with bones. This idiom describes the extreme intensity of close-quarters combat where soldiers fight body to body. It conveys a battle so fierce that combatants are physically pressed together in the struggle.
📜 Origin Story
This phrase originates from the 'History of Yuan' (元史), specifically the biography of Hao Jing (郝经), a scholar and diplomat of the Yuan dynasty. The original passage describes a siege in which attacking soldiers pressed so closely together in assault that their flesh and bones were mashed against one another, yet they persisted until the enemy's fortified walls were breached. The vivid imagery of bodies crushed together captures the brutality of the assault. It has since been used to characterize any extraordinarily fierce and desperate battle.
💡 Example Usage
两军在城下肉薄骨并，战况极为惨烈。
The two armies clashed in brutal close combat beneath the city walls, and the fighting was extraordinarily fierce.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 肉薄骨并
- Pinyin: ròu bó gǔ bìng
- Literal Translation: flesh, press, bone, join
- Category: Action
- Characters: 4