📖 Meaning
Originally referring to a brutal ancient Chinese execution method where five horses tore a person's limbs and head apart. Figuratively, it describes the act of tearing something whole into scattered, fragmented pieces, or the state of being pulled apart by conflicting forces.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom traces back to an ancient form of capital punishment in China, where the condemned person's four limbs and head were each tied to a horse, and the five horses were driven in different directions, dismembering the body. The earliest known written reference appears in the Ming dynasty anthology '群音类选' (Selected Classified Arias) compiled by Hu Wenhuan, in a passage condemning a faithless lover: 'Today you shall be torn apart by five horses and banished for a thousand years.' The phrase was also historically referred to as '四裂' (four-way splitting). Over centuries, the idiom shed its strictly punitive meaning and entered common usage as a vivid metaphor for fragmentation or being torn in multiple directions.
💡 Example Usage
再这样内斗下去，公司迟早要被五马分尸。
If the infighting continues like this, the company will sooner or later be torn apart.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 五马分尸
- Pinyin: wǔ mǎ fēn shī
- Literal Translation: five, horse, split, corpse
- Category: Action
- Characters: 4