Chinese Idiom

画蛇添足🔊

Huà Shé Tiān Zú
📚 Idioms⏱ 3 min read🎧 Audio

This idiom means ruining something by adding unnecessary details.

The Story 🔊

Chǔguó yǒu jǐ gè rén dédào yì hú jiǔ
楚国Chǔguó🔊有yǒu🔊几个人jǐ gè rén🔊得到dédào🔊一壶yì hú🔊酒jiǔ🔊。
Jiǔ bùgòu dàjiā fēn jiù yuēdìng bǐsài huà shé
酒Jiǔ🔊不够bùgòu🔊大家dàjiā🔊分fēn🔊,就jiù🔊约定yuēdìng🔊比赛bǐsài🔊画蛇huà shé🔊。
Shuí xiān huà wán jiǔ jiù guī shuí
谁Shuí🔊先xiān🔊画完huà wán🔊,酒jiǔ🔊就jiù🔊归guī🔊谁shuí🔊。
Yí gè rén xiān huà wán le yòu gěi shé huà le jiǎo
一个人Yí gè rén🔊先xiān🔊画完了huà wán le🔊,又yòu🔊给gěi🔊蛇shé🔊画了huà le🔊脚jiǎo🔊。
Lìng yí gè rén shuō shé běnlái méiyǒu jiǎo nǐ huà de bú shì shé
另一个人Lìng yí gè rén🔊说shuō🔊:蛇shé🔊本来běnlái🔊没有méiyǒu🔊脚jiǎo🔊,你nǐ🔊画的huà de🔊不是bú shì🔊蛇shé🔊。
English Translation:
Several people in Chu obtained a pot of wine. The wine was not enough for everyone, so they agreed to compete in drawing snakes. Whoever finished first would get the wine. One person finished first, but then added feet to the snake. Another person said: "Snakes don't have feet originally, what you drew is not a snake."

Key Vocabulary

画蛇添足
huà shé tiān zú
draw legs on a snake
蛇
shé
snake
脚
jiǎo
feet
比赛
bǐsài
competition
约定
yuēdìng
agree
本来
běnlái
originally

The Moral

Don't ruin a good thing by overdoing it! This idiom means adding unnecessary details that spoil the whole thing.

Cultural Insight

画蛇添足 comes from "Strategies of the Warring States" (战国策).