眼前疮

眼前瘡

yǎnqiánchuāng

idiom

Meanings

1 a sore right in front of you
2 an immediate, pressing problem
3 the crisis you have to deal with first

Characters

Examples

他借高利贷来补眼前疮，结果越陷越深。

Tā jiè gāolìdài lái bǔ yǎnqiánchuāng, jiéguǒ yuè xiàn yuè shēn.

He took out high-interest loans to patch the immediate crisis, and only sank in deeper.

这笔钱只能救眼前疮，长远还是得想办法。

Zhè bǐ qián zhǐ néng jiù yǎnqiánchuāng, chángyuǎn háishì děi xiǎng bànfǎ.

This money can only handle the immediate sore — you'll still need a long-term plan.

Tips

history

From the Tang poet Nie Yizhong (聂夷中): 医得眼前疮，剜却心头肉 ('You can cure the sore before your eyes by carving flesh from your heart') — biting satire on peasants selling their own children to pay taxes. The phrase survives as the pressing problem you must solve now.

Stroke Order

眼 yǎn

前 qián

疮 chuāng