📖 Meaning
Literally using boiling water to stop water from boiling. It is a metaphor for tackling a problem without addressing its root cause, which only makes the situation worse. The idiom criticizes superficial or counterproductive approaches that fail to get at the source of an issue.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from Lüshi Chunqiu (吕氏春秋), an encyclopedic work compiled in the late Warring States period (c. 239 BCE) under the patronage of Lü Buwei, a powerful chancellor of the state of Qin. In the chapter titled 'Jin Shu' (尽数), the text observes that pouring boiling water into a pot to stop it from boiling only makes it boil more fiercely, whereas removing the fire beneath the pot is what truly stops it. The passage uses this image to argue that problems must be resolved at their source rather than through measures that merely treat the symptoms.
💡 Example Usage
仅靠封禁账号来治理网络谣言，无异于以汤止沸。
Merely banning accounts to curb online rumors is like trying to stop boiling water with boiling water.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 以汤止沸
- Pinyin: yǐ tāng zhǐ fèi
- Literal Translation: use, boiling water, to stop, boiling
- Category: Method
- Characters: 4