Fun and Vivid Chinese Idioms with Animal and Daily Behavior Metaphors

Tuesday, July 22, 2025

In Chinese, there are many interesting vocabulary terms composed of animals or daily behaviors. They often carry vivid metaphors, describing people's personalities or behaviors rather than literal meanings. Apart from the ones you mentioned like "brown-nosing" and "lackey," here are a few more that are quite intriguing:

拍马屁(pāi mǎ pì), brown-nosing

Literal Meaning: Patting the horse's butt

Actual Meaning: Refers to deliberately saying flattering words or doing sycophantic things to please others.

Example: 
He always speaks flatteringly in front of the leader; everyone thinks he's brown-nosing.
他总在领导面前说些好听的，大家都觉得他在拍马屁。
tā zǒng shì zài lǐng dǎo miàn qián shuō hǎo tīng de, dà jiā dōu jué de tā zài pāi mǎ pì.  

狗腿子 (gǒu tuǐ zi), lackey

Literal Meaning: Dog's legs

Actual Meaning: Metaphor for people who attach themselves to powerful individuals, helping them do bad things and bully others, having a negative connotation.

Example: 
The bully's lackey, who follows him around all day, bullying the neighbors.
那个恶霸的狗腿子，整天跟着他欺负邻居。
nà ge è bà de gǒu tuǐ zi, zhěng tiān gēn zhe tā qī fu lín jū.  

马后炮 (mǎ hòu pào), Monday-morning quarterbacking

Literal Meaning: Cannon behind the horse (chess term)

Actual Meaning: Refers to giving useless opinions or solutions after the fact when the event has already occurred; similar to "Monday-morning quarterback."

Example: 
Everything's done now, and you're saying it won't work - isn't that Monday-morning quarterbacking?
事情都办完了，你现在说这样不行，不是马后炮吗？
shì qing dōu bàn wán le, nǐ xiàn zài shuō zhè yàng bù xíng, bú shì mǎ hòu pào ma?  

老狐狸 (lǎo hú li), cunning old fox

Literal Meaning: Old fox

Actual Meaning: Describes someone as very cunning and calculating.

Example: 
He's like a cunning old fox, always finding a way to take advantage of the situation.
他像只老狐狸，总能想到办法占到便宜。
tā xiàng zhī lǎo hú li, zǒng néng xiǎng dào bàn fǎ zhàn xiǎo pián yi.  

领头羊 (lǐng tóu yáng), lead sheep

Literal Meaning: Sheep leading the flock

Actual Meaning: Metaphor for a person who takes a leading role in a group.

Example: 
With strong skills and a sense of responsibility, he is the lead sheep in our team.
他能力强又有责任心，是我们团队的领头羊。
tā néng lì yǒu qiáng yòu yǒu zé rèn xīn, shì wǒ men tuán duì de lǐng tóu yáng. 

These words are like "passwords" in Chinese - looking beyond the literal meaning to the metaphor, isn't it fascinating? They make expressions more vivid, and you can immediately understand the type of person being described. Do you know any similar words?

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