脣亡齒寒

Chinese

lip to die; to perish tooth cold; poor; to tremble
trad. (脣亡齒寒/唇亡齒寒) /
simp. (唇亡齿寒) 齿

Etymology

From the Commentary of Zuo:

假道:「不可不可所謂輔車相依脣亡齒寒。」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
假道:「不可不可所谓辅车相依唇亡齿寒。」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
From: Commentary of Zuo, c. 4th century BCE
Jìn hóu fù jiǎdào yú Yú yǐ fá Guó. Gōng Zhīqí jiàn yuē: “Guó, Yú zhī biǎo yě, Guó wáng, Yú bì cóng zhī. Jìn bùkě qǐ, kòu bùkě wàn. Yī zhī wèi shèn, qí kě zài hū. Yàn suǒwèi fǔchēxiāngyī, chúnwángchǐhán zhě, qí Yú Guó zhī wèi yě.” [Pinyin]
The marquis of Jin once again wanted to attack Guo by way of Yu. Gong Zhiqi admonished the duke of Yu, saying, “Guo is exterior to Yu. If Guo should perish, Yu is sure to follow. The road should not be opened for Jin; the bandits are not to be ignored. Once was more than enough, how can you do it a second time? The two sayings, ‘The cheekbone and gum depend on one another’ and ‘When the lips perish, the teeth become cold’ both apply to the relationship between Guo and Yu.”

Pronunciation


Idiom

脣亡齒寒

  1. to share a common lot; to share the same fate

Synonyms

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (脣亡齒寒):
  • Korean: 순망치한(脣亡齒寒) (sunmangchihan)

Other:

  • Japanese: (くちびる)(ほろ)びて()(さむ) (kuchibiru horobite wa samushi) (calque)
  • Vietnamese: môi hở răng lạnh (calque)
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