老龟刳肠 — “Even a sagacious tortoise cannot escape its fate”

老龟刳肠 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “Even a sagacious tortoise cannot escape its fate”. Implying that some difficulties or disasters are unavoidable. Literally, “old tortoise disembowels”.

Frequency

老龟刳肠 Pronunciation and Pinyin

老龟刳肠 Character Breakdown

Stroke Order

Character	Pinyin	Strokes	Meaning
老	lǎo	6	old, aged, experienced
龟	guī	7	turtle or tortoise
刳	kū	8	cut open and hollow out
肠	cháng	7	intestine, sausage, feelings

Example Sentence with 老龟刳肠

面对这场突如其来的变故，他深感无力，仿佛老龟刳肠，再怎么挣扎也难以摆脱。

Faced with this sudden turn of events, he felt powerless, as if an old tortoise disemboweling itself, no matter how much he struggled, it was difficult to escape.

Origin and Story of 老龟刳肠

During the Spring and Autumn period, Duke Yuan of Song dreamt that a divine tortoise told him a fisherman named Yu Qie was going to capture and kill it.

The next day, Duke Yuan of Song had someone perform divination and indeed found Yu Qie.

Yu Qie said he had caught a large sea tortoise, and it took him great effort to cut it open and remove its internal organs.

Upon hearing this, Confucius sighed and remarked: "Even though the divine tortoise knew of its impending doom, it still could not escape it."