众怒难犯 — “The anger of the masses is not to be provoked or defied”

众怒难犯 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “the anger of the masses is not to be provoked or defied”. It is unwise to go against the will or anger of the majority.

Frequency

众怒难犯 Pronunciation and Pinyin

众怒难犯 Character Breakdown

Stroke Order

Character	Pinyin	Strokes	Meaning
众	zhòng	6	many people
怒	nù	9	angry, furious, rage
难	nán	10	difficult, troublesome, or bad
犯	fàn	5	commit a crime or mistake

Example Sentence with 众怒难犯

经理的决策必须考虑到员工的普遍意愿，因为众怒难犯，否则可能导致团队士气低落。

The manager's decision must take into account the general wishes of the employees, as public anger is not to be provoked, otherwise, it could lead to low team morale.

Origin and Story of 众怒难犯

During the Spring and Autumn period, a rebellion broke out in the State of Zheng. Grandee Wei Zhi killed Grandee Zi Si.

Zi Kong and Zi Chan together suppressed the rebellion and killed Wei Zhi. After Zi Kong gained power, he created a covenant stating that officials should each maintain their positions and obey his commands.

Zi Chan advised him against this, hoping he would not provoke public anger, otherwise, the state would not be peaceful. Zi Kong then publicly burned the covenant.