📖 Meaning
The slain fill the countryside. It describes a situation where enormous numbers of people are killed, painting a grim picture of mass slaughter across the land. The idiom conveys the devastating scale of killing in war or massacre.
📜 Origin Story
This phrase draws from classical Chinese descriptions of warfare and carnage. The character 盈 (to fill) appears in similar expressions in texts such as the Mencius, where the philosopher criticized rulers whose military campaigns left battlefields strewn with corpses. Over time, 杀人盈野 became a vivid shorthand for the brutality of war and the catastrophic human toll of violent conflict.
💡 Example Usage
这场战争持续数年，杀人盈野，百姓流离失所。
The war dragged on for years, leaving the countryside strewn with corpses and the people displaced.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 杀人盈野
- Pinyin: shā rén yíng yě
- Literal Translation: kill, people, fill, wilderness
- Category: Power
- Characters: 4