饮 鸩 止 渴

yǐn zhèn zhǐ kědictionary entry

lit. drinking poison in the hope of quenching one's thirst (idiom) / fig. a supposed remedy that only makes matters worse

Sources & editorial notes

Reference definitions: CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source release 2026-10-27T01:55:52Z. Imported 2026-10-27. Definition wording and meaning order are retained. Recognized pronunciation references are displayed with tone marks; the original source record is available below.

Source record: cd-0ca5cc70cd494ae5. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

飲鴆止渴 饮鸩止渴 [yin3 zhen4 zhi3 ke3] /lit. drinking poison in the hope of quenching one's thirst (idiom)/fig. a supposed remedy that only makes matters worse/

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Reference information

The definitions above are from CC-CEDICT. Examples and usage notes are available on selected entries.

Character information

Other forms in these source records: 飲鴆止渴

View the individual characters. Their meanings do not necessarily explain the meaning of the whole word.

饮鸩止渴

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.