Situations
破竹之勢
파죽지세
pò zhú zhī shì
Pa-juk-ji-se
破
깨뜨릴 파
竹
대 죽
之
갈 지
勢
형세 세
Character by character
Meaning
The force of splitting bamboo — advancing without anything to check it.
Origin
From the Book of Jin: Du Yu said that once the first joints give way, the rest of the stalk splits on its own.
How it is used
Used of a winning streak or an advance nothing slows.
Hanja破竹之勢
Simplified破竹之势
Korean reading파죽지세
Pinyinpò zhú zhī shì
Frequently asked questions
Q. What does Pa-juk-ji-se mean?
破竹之勢 · The force of splitting bamboo — advancing without anything to check it.
Q. Where does Pa-juk-ji-se come from?
From the Book of Jin: Du Yu said that once the first joints give way, the rest of the stalk splits on its own.
Q. How is Pa-juk-ji-se used?
Used of a winning streak or an advance nothing slows.
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.累卵之危 Nu-ran-ji-wiAs precarious as a stack of eggs.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.
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.