另起炉灶

另起爐灶

lìngqǐ-lúzào

idiom #38,118

Meanings

1 to set up a separate stove - to start from scratch
2 to strike out on one's own; to start a new project independently

Characters

another; separately

to set up; to start

kitchen stove; hearth

Examples

HSK 6

他离开了原来的公司，另起炉灶做自己的品牌。

Tā líkāi le yuánlái de gōngsī, lìngqǐ-lúzào zuò zìjǐ de pǐnpái.

He left his former company and started his own brand from scratch.

HSK 6

这个方案行不通，只好另起炉灶。

Zhège fāng'àn xíngbutōng, zhǐhǎo lìngqǐ-lúzào.

This plan won't work - we have no choice but to start over.

HSK 7-9

与其修修补补，不如另起炉灶。

Yǔqí xiūxiū bǔbǔ, bùrú lìngqǐ-lúzào.

Rather than patching things up, we'd be better off starting fresh.

Tips

history

From Li Ruzhen's Qing-dynasty novel 《镜花缘》 (Flowers in the Mirror). The literal cooking image of rebuilding a 炉灶 (stove) became a metaphor for rebuilding from scratch.

culture

炉灶 (stove/hearth) is the center of the traditional Chinese household - 分家 (splitting the family) literally meant setting up a new 灶. So 另起炉灶 carries connotations of independence and a clean break, with both positive (autonomy) and negative (abandoning the old unit) flavors depending on context.

Stroke Order

另 lìng

起 qǐ

炉 lú

灶 zào