📖 Meaning
To cut down the stump and dig out the root, meaning to eradicate something completely and thoroughly. It conveys the idea of removing an evil or threat at its source so that it can never grow back. The idiom emphasizes thoroughness in eliminating dangers.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from 'Zhanguo Ce' (Strategies of the Warring States), a text compiled during the Han Dynasty that records the political strategies and diplomatic rhetoric of the Warring States period. In the Qin Strategies section, it advises rulers to eliminate threats completely—cutting the stump and digging out the root—so that no remnants remain to cause future trouble. The counsel warns that only by removing a problem at its foundation can one avoid neighboring disaster. It became a metaphor for the principle that evil must be uprooted entirely.
💡 Example Usage
对待腐败问题必须削株掘根，绝不能留下任何隐患。
Corruption must be eradicated root and branch, leaving no hidden dangers behind.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 削株掘根
- Pinyin: xuē zhū jué gēn
- Literal Translation: cut the stump, dig the root
- Category: Determination
- Characters: 4