Once the leader fell, the faction descended into infighting.
Tips
usage
Essentially always in 内讧 ('internal conflict') — quarreling and power struggles inside one's own camp, party or team. The phrase comes from a 诗经 line about a pest gnawing from within.
Speech radical on the left, side-form of 言. It frames the meaning as conflict carried out in words — quarreling and squabbling. Same family as 讼 to litigate, 诤 to remonstrate, 议 to argue.
Right side 工 supplies the sound (gōng → hòng). It is purely a sound marker; the 'work' meaning does not enter this 'infighting' word. Same phonetic in 红 red and 江 river.
