📖 Meaning
To cancel or wipe out something completely with a single stroke, as if drawing a line through an account. It signifies the total annulment or dismissal of previous matters, debts, grievances, or agreements. The phrase emphasizes a decisive and complete cancellation with no remainder.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase traces back to the Song dynasty scholar Chen Liang's letter 'To Wu Yigong' (《与吴益恭书》), where he wrote that a certain matter had already been 'cancelled with one stroke.' It later appears in the Yuan-era 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms Pinghua' (《三国志平话》), in a passage stating that if one enters the court and Lord Cao is benevolent, then all is cancelled with one stroke; if not, one dies in the imperial capital. The idiom draws on the image of a single brushstroke crossing out an entry in a ledger, instantly nullifying it.
💡 Example Usage
过去的恩怨从此一笔勾断，我们重新开始吧。
From now on, our past grievances are wiped out with a single stroke—let's start fresh.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 一笔勾断
- Pinyin: yī bǐ gōu duàn
- Literal Translation: one, stroke, cross out, break off
- Category: Action
- Characters: 4