兔死狗烹

Chinese

		rabbit	to die; impassable; uncrossable to die; impassable; uncrossable; inflexible; rigid	dog	cuisine; cooking
trad. (兔死狗烹)		兔	死	狗	烹
simp. ^#(兔死狗烹)		兔	死	狗	烹
Literally: “to boil the dog once it caught the rabbit”.

Etymology

From Shiji, c. 91 BCE, quoting Fan Li, a fifth-century BCE military strategist:

蜚鳥盡，良弓藏；狡兔死，走狗烹。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

蜚鸟尽，良弓藏；狡兔死，走狗烹。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE

Fěi niǎo jìn, liáng gōng cáng; jiǎotù sǐ, zǒugǒu pēng. [Pinyin]

When the flying birds are done with, the good bow is stored away; when the sly rabbit dies, the hunting dog is boiled [to eat].

This was later commonly shortened to 鳥盡弓藏，兔死狗烹 / 鸟尽弓藏，兔死狗烹.

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): tùsǐgǒupēng

(Zhuyin): ㄊㄨˋ ㄙˇ ㄍㄡˇ ㄆㄥ
Cantonese (Jyutping): tou³ sei² gau² paang¹

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: tùsǐgǒupēng [Phonetic: tùsígǒupēng]
  - Zhuyin: ㄊㄨˋ ㄙˇ ㄍㄡˇ ㄆㄥ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: tùsǐhgǒupeng
  - Wade–Giles: tʻu⁴-ssŭ³-kou³-pʻêng¹
  - Yale: tù-sž-gǒu-pēng
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tuhsyygooupeng
  - Palladius: тусыгоупэн (tusygoupɛn)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰu⁵¹ sz̩²¹⁴⁻³⁵ koʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ pʰɤŋ⁵⁵/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: tou³ sei² gau² paang¹
  - Yale: tou séi gáu pāang
  - Cantonese Pinyin: tou³ sei² gau² paang¹
  - Guangdong Romanization: tou³ séi² geo² pang¹
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰou̯³³ sei̯³⁵ kɐu̯³⁵ pʰaːŋ⁵⁵/

Idiom

兔死狗烹

to get rid of somebody once they have served their purpose

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (兔死狗烹):

→ Korean: 토사구팽(兎死狗烹) (tosagupaeng)

Others:

→ Japanese: 狡兎死(こうとし)して走狗烹(そうくに)らる (kōtoshi shite sōku niraru) (calque)