📖 Meaning
This idiom means to annihilate or exterminate completely. It evokes the imagery of attacking from all directions—cutting down on the right and slaughtering on the left—to eliminate enemies thoroughly with no survivors left behind.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom has no single documented literary origin. It is built from two parallel structures pairing directional words with verbs of destruction: 翦 meaning to cut down or exterminate, and 屠 meaning to slaughter. Together they convey the totality of annihilation, as if no enemy on either side is spared.
💡 Example Usage
敌军来犯，将军下令右翦左屠，不留一个活口。
When the enemy invaded, the general ordered complete annihilation, sparing not a single life.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 右翦左屠
- Pinyin: yòu jiǎn zuǒ tú
- Literal Translation: right, cut down, left, slaughter
- Category: Action
- Characters: 4