📖 Meaning
Literally 'using fire to rescue from a fire.' It is a metaphor for adopting the wrong approach to solve a problem, which not only fails to help but actually makes the situation worse. The phrase warns against compounding an error with more of the same.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the Daoist text Zhuangzi (庄子), specifically the chapter 'In the World of Men' (人间世), written during the Warring States period by the philosopher Zhuang Zhou. In the passage, the author writes '是以火救火，以水救水，名之曰益多' — 'using fire to rescue from fire, using water to rescue from water, this is called making things more numerous.' The text criticizes rulers who respond to disorder with ever more forceful measures, arguing that such methods only amplify the problem rather than resolving it. Zhuangzi uses the imagery to convey a Daoist principle: confronting a problem with the very thing that caused it only deepens the crisis.
💡 Example Usage
面对金融危机，单纯增发货币无异于以火救火，只会让通胀愈演愈烈。
In the face of a financial crisis, simply printing more money is like fighting fire with fire — it will only make inflation spiral out of control.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 以火救火
- Pinyin: yǐ huǒ jiù huǒ
- Literal Translation: use, fire, to rescue, fire
- Category: Method
- Characters: 4