To prevent a disaster rather than be praised for surviving one
The gap between those first two lines is the whole point of a chengyu. It is quoted whole, never assembled, and the literal reading is a picture from the story below rather than a definition — which is why translating the four characters one at a time rarely gets you there.
A guest told his host that a straight chimney beside a woodpile would burn the house down, and was ignored. When the fire came, the neighbours who hauled water were feasted and the singed ones seated at the head of the table — and nobody thought to invite the man who had said to move the wood.
Source: 《汉书》Book of Han, 1st century AD
The reading shown is the one each character takes inside this idiom — chengyu keep older readings, so it is not always the everyday one. The meanings are read from the same dictionary that powers the translators.
Want the stroke order for one of these? Each character links to its dictionary entry, which animates it.
曲突徙薪 is pronounced qū tū xǐ xīn and means to prevent a disaster rather than be praised for surviving one. Literally it says "bend the chimney, move the firewood" — like most chengyu, the literal reading is a picture from a story rather than a definition.
《汉书》Book of Han, 1st century AD. A guest told his host that a straight chimney beside a woodpile would burn the house down, and was ignored. When the fire came, the neighbours who hauled water were feasted and the singed ones seated at the head of the table — and nobody thought to invite the man who had said to move the wood.
qū tū xǐ xīn. Press the audio button on this page to hear it spoken by a native voice. Tones here are citation tones, so 一 is written yī even where it is said yí in running speech.
曲 (qū) Bent (wrong - crooked - leaven); Tune (song), 突 (tū) Suddenly (dash - break out), 徙 (xǐ) Move, 薪 (xīn) Fuel (salary). These meanings come from the same dictionary as the translators on this site, and the reading shown is the one the character takes inside this idiom.
Yes. Chengyu are not archaic — they are ordinary educated speech, and they turn up in conversation, newspapers and exams. This one sits in the advanced band, which reflects how common it is and how hard its characters are.
Rebuild 曲突徙薪 from scrambled tiles in the Chengyu Story Puzzle, test yourself on idiom meanings in the Chengyu Quiz, browse all the idioms, or save this one above and review it on your review deck.
Every idiom here comes with the story it was compressed from — that is the rule for being listed, and it is why they stick.
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