📖 Meaning
Literally meaning 'melting gold and destroying bones,' this idiom is a metaphor for how repeated slander and defamation can destroy a person's reputation and make it impossible for them to survive. It illustrates the devastating power of collective accusations and rumors.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from the Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian) by Sima Qian of the Western Han dynasty, in the biography of Zhang Yi. The original phrase is '众口铄金，积毁销骨' — 'the mouths of many can melt gold, and accumulated slanders can destroy bones.' Zhang Yi was a strategist of the Warring States period, and the phrase warned that the combined force of public opinion and repeated accusations is powerful enough to dissolve even gold and erode even bone.
💡 Example Usage
众口铄金毁骨，他百口莫辩，终于被免去了职务。
With repeated slander destroying his reputation, he had no way to defend himself and was finally dismissed from his post.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 铄金毁骨
- Pinyin: shuò jīn huǐ gǔ
- Literal Translation: melt, gold, destroy, bones
- Category: Communication
- Characters: 4