Situations
四面楚歌
사면초가
sì miàn chǔ gē
Sa-myeon-cho-ga
四
넉 사
面
낯 면
楚
초나라 초
歌
노래 가
Character by character
Meaning
Chu songs on all four sides — surrounded with nowhere to turn.
Origin
From the Records of the Grand Historian: encircled by Han troops, Xiang Yu heard Chu songs from every direction and his soldiers melted away.
How it is used
Used of a predicament with no way out.
Hanja四面楚歌
Simplified四面楚歌
Korean reading사면초가
Pinyinsì miàn chǔ gē
Frequently asked questions
Q. What does Sa-myeon-cho-ga mean?
四面楚歌 · Chu songs on all four sides — surrounded with nowhere to turn.
Q. Where does Sa-myeon-cho-ga come from?
From the Records of the Grand Historian: encircled by Han troops, Xiang Yu heard Chu songs from every direction and his soldiers melted away.
Q. How is Sa-myeon-cho-ga used?
Used of a predicament with no way out.
Idioms in the same group
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.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.