马首是瞻

馬首是瞻

mǎshǒushìzhān

idiom

Meanings

1 to watch only the lead horse's head
2 to follow someone's lead blindly
3 to take one's cue from a single leader

Characters

(object-marker, classical)

look up to / gaze at

Examples

全队唯他马首是瞻。

Quán duì wéi tā mǎshǒu shì zhān.

The whole team follows his lead.

大家都以她的决定马首是瞻。

Dàjiā dōu yǐ tā de juédìng mǎshǒu shì zhān.

Everyone takes their cue from her decisions.

Tips

history

From 《左传·襄公十四年》: the allied army was ordered "at cockcrow, yoke the horses, fill the wells and level the stoves — just look at my horse's head to know which way to go". Originally a battlefield order for unified movement.

grammar

Classical word order: 马首是瞻 = 瞻马首, where 是 serves as an object-marker inverting "watch the horse's head". Fossilized in the idiom.

Stroke Order

马 mǎ

首 shǒu

是 shì

瞻 zhān