大动干戈

大動干戈
dàdònggāngē
idiom #30,925

Meanings

  1. 1 lit. to move shields and spears in a big way; to go to war
  2. 2 to make a huge fuss; to mobilise disproportionate effort

Examples

Zhè diǎn xiǎo shì bù zhídé dàdònggāngē.
This minor matter isn't worth making such a huge fuss over.
Wèile yīgè cuòzì jiù dàdònggāngē, méi bìyào.
There's no need to go to war over one typo.

Tips

history
·》 warns against "plotting to move shields and spears within the state" — Confucius's critique of rulers who let internal strife escalate to war. Modern use has softened to "overreacting".
culture
干戈 literally names two ancient weapons (shield and dagger-axe) — together they serve as a synecdoche for "warfare" throughout classical Chinese.

Stroke Order

dòng
gàn