Sae-ong-ji-ma

塞

변방 새

翁

늙은이 옹

之

갈 지

馬

말 마

Character by character

Meaning

The old frontiersman’s horse — fortune and misfortune cannot be predicted.

Origin

From the Huainanzi: a horse lost, a horse gained, a son injured — each turn reversing what looked like luck.

How it is used

Said to counsel against reacting too strongly to either good news or bad.

Hanja塞翁之馬

Simplified塞翁之马

Korean reading새옹지마

Pinyinsài wēng zhī mǎ

Frequently asked questions

Q. What does Sae-ong-ji-ma mean?

塞翁之馬 · The old frontiersman’s horse — fortune and misfortune cannot be predicted.

Q. Where does Sae-ong-ji-ma come from?

From the Huainanzi: a horse lost, a horse gained, a son injured — each turn reversing what looked like luck.

Q. How is Sae-ong-ji-ma used?

Said to counsel against reacting too strongly to either good news or bad.

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.