物竞天择

物競天擇

wùjìng-tiānzé

idiom #41,444

Meanings

1 creatures compete and nature selects
2 natural selection

Characters

Examples

HSK 5

在激烈的市场竞争中，物竞天择，只有不断创新的公司才能活下来。

Zài jīliè de shìchǎng jìngzhēng zhōng, wùjìng-tiānzé, zhǐyǒu búduàn chuàngxīn de gōngsī cái néng huó xiàlai.

In fierce market competition it is survival of the fittest, and only companies that keep innovating survive.

HSK 6

物竞天择，不能适应环境的动物就会被淘汰。

Wùjìng-tiānzé, bù néng shìyìng huánjìng de dòngwù jiù huì bèi táotài.

Nature selects among competing creatures: animals that cannot adapt to their surroundings die out.

Tips

history

严复 coined the terms in 天演论 (1898), his free rendering of Thomas Huxley's Evolution and Ethics. They usually come as 物竞天择，适者生存 'creatures compete, nature selects, the fittest survive', a slogan that spread fast among late-Qing reformers.

Stroke Order

物 wù

竞 jìng

天 tiān

择 zé