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以毒攻毒 (yǐ dú gōng dú) — to fight poison with poison; to use the opponent's own methods against them; to set a thief to catch a thief

Definition

Literally 'use poison to attack poison.' Originally a TCM method of curing a toxin with another toxin, now used figuratively to mean countering an evil with the same kind of evil.

idiom
to fight poison with poisonto use the opponent's own methods against themto set a thief to catch a thief

Examples

  • ，以毒攻毒。
    Miàn duì wǎng luò gōng jī, tā men cǎi qǔ le yǐ dú gōng dú de cè lüè.
    Facing the cyber attack, they adopted a fight-fire-with-fire strategy.
  • 。
    Zhōng yī yǒu shí huì yòng yǐ dú gōng dú de fāng fǎ zhì liáo yí nán zá zhèng.
    Traditional Chinese medicine sometimes uses the method of fighting poison with poison to treat difficult diseases.
  • 、以毒攻毒。
    Zhè bù diàn yǐng jiǎng de shì yǐ bào zhì bào, yǐ dú gōng dú de gù shi.
    This movie tells a story of fighting violence with violence and poison with poison.

Origin

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape came from a drawing of a person carrying something; in 以, part of that person is still visible on the right.

Open 以 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
屮屮chèvegetation
Sound part声符shēngfú
毐
毐ǎi毒dú
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

毒 pairs 屮, a plant part, with 毐 as a sound part; this form was used for a poisonous plant.

Open 毒 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
攵Written in full as攴pūhand holding a tool or weapon
Sound part声符shēngfú
工
工gōng攻gōng
Same sound today

攻 puts 工, which gives the pronunciation, beside 攵, a hand holding a tool or weapon.

Open 攻 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
屮屮chèvegetation
Sound part声符shēngfú
毐
毐ǎi毒dú
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

毒 pairs 屮, a plant part, with 毐 as a sound part; this form was used for a poisonous plant.

Open 毒 →
Appears in
Idioms & Set PhrasesMedicine & Treatment

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