📖 Meaning
A colloquial expression meaning to die or breathe one's last. The term 呜呼 (wū hū) was originally an exclamation of lament commonly found at the end of ancient sacrificial and funerary texts, which over time became a euphemism for death. The full phrase vividly conveys that a person's single life has come to an end.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase combines 一命 (one life) with 呜呼, an ancient exclamation of grief traditionally placed at the conclusion of elegies and sacrificial odes. Over the centuries, 呜呼 evolved from a mere lament into a metonym for death itself. The complete expression 一命呜呼 was popularized in modern usage, notably appearing in Mao Zedong's 1927 'Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan,' where a local tyrant named Tang Junyan reportedly had two beggars killed to inaugurate his brutal reign, and the two beggars 'thus breathed their last.' Today it is used in both serious and humorous contexts to indicate that someone has died.
💡 Example Usage
那个贪官作恶多端，最终一命呜呼了。
That corrupt official committed countless evils and ultimately breathed his last.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 一命呜呼
- Pinyin: yī mìng wū hū
- Literal Translation: one, life, alas, alas
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4