📖 Meaning
To leave behind a calamity that has no end. It describes an action or decision whose harmful consequences stretch indefinitely into the future, and is commonly used as a warning against short-sighted choices that inflict lasting damage on later generations.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase appears in a colophon (跋) written by the Song dynasty poet Zhang Yuangan (张元幹) in his postscript to the collected works of Liaotang xiansheng (《跋〈了堂先生文集〉》). In the passage he observes that one's sons-in-law, brothers, and close kin successively imitate and pass on the same teachings, so that the disaster left behind proves endless (遗祸无穷). It thus carries a literary warning about how unchecked influence or wrongdoing can propagate and compound across generations.
💡 Example Usage
环境污染若不加治理，必将遗祸无穷。
If environmental pollution is left untreated, it will inevitably bring endless harm to future generations.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 遗祸无穷
- Pinyin: yí huò wú qióng
- Literal Translation: leave behind, calamity, without, end
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4