因噎废食

因噎廢食

yīnyē-fèishí

idiom #66,508

Meanings

1 to stop eating because someone once choked
2 to abandon something essential because of a minor risk; to throw the baby out with the bathwater

Characters

Examples

HSK 5

不能因为怕失败就不尝试，那是因噎废食。

Bù néng yīnwèi pà shībài jiù bù chángshì, nà shì yīnyē-fèishí.

You can't refuse to try just because you're afraid of failure, that's cutting off your nose to spite your face.

HSK 5

改革出现问题要解决，不能因噎废食。

Gǎigé chūxiàn wèntí yào jiějué, bù néng yīnyē-fèishí.

When problems arise in reforms, we should solve them, not abandon the reforms altogether.

HSK 7-9

出过一次事故就禁止所有活动，未免因噎废食。

Chū guo yí cì shìgù jiù jìnzhǐ suǒyǒu huódòng, wèimiǎn yīnyē-fèishí.

Banning all activities after one accident is throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Tips

history

From 吕氏春秋·荡兵 (Warring States): 夫有以噎死者，欲禁天下之食，悖 - 'because one person choked to death, someone wants to forbid eating under heaven, this is absurd.' The philosopher's point: don't abolish a whole practice because of a single mishap. The idiom preserves the argument almost verbatim.

usage

Standard rhetorical move against overreaction, in policy debates, management, parenting. Almost always used to criticize someone else's excessive caution. Close English: 'throwing out the baby with the bathwater.'

Stroke Order

因 yīn

噎 yē

废 fèi

食 shí