Situations
累卵之危
누란지위
lěi luǎn zhī wēi
Nu-ran-ji-wi
累
쌓을 루
卵
알 란
之
갈 지
危
위태할 위
Character by character
Meaning
As precarious as a stack of eggs.
Origin
From the Records of the Grand Historian, where Qin’s position is called more perilous than piled eggs.
How it is used
Describes a situation that will collapse at the slightest touch.
Hanja累卵之危
Simplified累卵之危
Korean reading누란지위
Pinyinlěi luǎn zhī wēi
Frequently asked questions
Q. What does Nu-ran-ji-wi mean?
累卵之危 · As precarious as a stack of eggs.
Q. Where does Nu-ran-ji-wi come from?
From the Records of the Grand Historian, where Qin’s position is called more perilous than piled eggs.
Q. How is Nu-ran-ji-wi used?
Describes a situation that will collapse at the slightest touch.
Idioms in the same group
四面楚歌 Sa-myeon-cho-gaChu songs on all four sides — surrounded with nowhere to turn.進退兩難 Jin-toe-yang-nanHard to advance and hard to retreat.風前燈火 Pung-jeon-deung-hwaA lamp flame before the wind — an extremely precarious state.五里霧中 O-ri-mu-jungInside a fog five li deep — completely unable to make sense of things.雪上加霜 Seol-sang-ga-sangFrost on top of snow — one misfortune stacked on another.轉禍爲福 Jeon-hwa-wi-bokDisaster turned into good fortune.
The idioms used in Korea mix phrases from the Chinese classics with ones coined in Korea. Where an expression is not used in China, the entry says so.