📖 Meaning
A metaphor meaning the talentless are eliminated first. It comes from a story about a host choosing to cook the goose that could not honk. The phrase warns that those without useful skills are the first to be cast aside.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the Zhuangzi (庄子), a Daoist text from the Warring States period attributed to Zhuang Zhou. In the chapter 'Mountain Tree' (山木), Confucius leaves the mountains and lodges at an old friend's house. Delighted, the host orders a servant to kill a goose for the meal. The servant asks which one to kill—the one that honks or the one that stays silent. The master replies to kill the silent one, as it serves no purpose. Thus the goose that could not cry out was cooked first.
💡 Example Usage
公司裁员时，那些无所作为的员工往往雁默先烹，被率先辞退。
When the company downsized, the idle employees were the first to be let go—the silent geese cooked first.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 雁默先烹
- Pinyin: yàn mò xiān pēng
- Literal Translation: goose, silent, first, cooked
- Category: Philosophy
- Characters: 4