迁怒 (qiānnù): to vent one's anger on someone else

Meanings

1 to vent one's anger on someone else
2 to displace anger onto an innocent party

Characters

迁

qiān

to move / to transfer / to shift

怒

nù

anger / fury / rage

Examples

他在公司受了气，回家后把怒气迁怒到了孩子身上。

Tā zài gōngsī shòu le qì, huí jiā hòu bǎ nùqì qiānnù dào le háizi shēnshang.

He had a bad day at the office and took it out on the children when he got home.

不要因为自己不顺心就迁怒于别人。

Bù yào yīnwèi zìjǐ bù shùnxīn jiù qiānnù yú biérén.

Don't take out your frustrations on others just because things aren't going your way.

Tips

usage

迁怒 always implies that the anger is misplaced — the person receiving it is not the actual cause. The classic structure is 迁怒于/到 + person. It comes from the Confucian virtue of 不迁怒 (not displacing anger), mentioned in the Analects as a quality of the exemplary student 颜回.