千刀万剐

千刀萬剮

qiāndāowànguǎ

idiom #43,483

Meanings

1 to hack to pieces (former imperial punishment)
2 to be sliced a thousand times — describing crimes so heinous death cannot atone for them

Characters

to slice flesh from bone

Examples

百姓恨不得把他千刀万剐。

Bǎixìng hènbude bǎ tā qiāndāowànguǎ.

The common people would happily have hacked him to pieces.

这种叛徒千刀万剐也不为过。

Zhè zhǒng pàntú qiāndāowànguǎ yě bù wéi guò.

Even being sliced a thousand times wouldn't be enough for a traitor like this.

Tips

history

Refers to 凌迟 (língchí, 'death by a thousand cuts'), an imperial-era execution method used for the most serious crimes — treason, parricide. The phrase appears in Yuan-dynasty drama 《盆儿鬼》 and was later popularized in Qing fiction like 《桃花扇》. The actual punishment was abolished in 1905.

memory

千 (thousand) 刀 (knives) + 万 (ten thousand) 剐 (slice). Pure hyperbolic structure: '1,000 knives, 10,000 slices'. 剐 (guǎ) specifically means cutting flesh from bone.

Stroke Order

千 qiān

刀 dāo

万 wàn

剐 guǎ