飲鴆止渴 yǐn zhèn zhǐ kě

harmful quick fix; cure that makes things worse

Word data

HSK Not in HSK
Frequency Unknown

Definitions

  1. 1. lit. drinking poison in the hope of quenching one's thirst (idiom)
  2. 2. fig. a supposed remedy that only makes matters worse

Characters

Character Meaning
飲 yǐn
to drink; old variant of 飲yǐn
鴆 zhèn
to poison sb; poisonous
止 zhǐ HSK 4
to stop; until; to prohibit
渴 kě HSK 3
thirsty