Learning Chinese is easier with our free resources! This series explains idioms and proverbs, valuable for various situations. Today’s idiom is 「割臂之盟」, with more below.
The idiom 「割臂之盟」 is the focus of our introduction today, and its explanation and application are listed below.
Cut the arm: pierce the arm; covenant: covenant. It originally referred to the situation during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period when Duke Zhuang of Lu and Meng Ren cut their arms and made an engagement. Later it generally refers to cutting one’s arm to make a vow (referring to a secret engagement between a man and a woman).
The Mandarin pronunciation of this idiom is :
gē bì zhī méng
while its Cantonese pinyin is :
got3 bei3 ji1 mang4
Chinese idioms are incredibly numerous, each carrying a special meaning and usage. This variety is a great reason to study them, and we hope these tools make that easier for you.
