一蟹不如一蟹 — “Each one worse than the last”
一蟹不如一蟹 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “Each one worse than the last”. Going from bad to worse; a decline in quality. Literally, “One crab not as good as the next crab”.
一蟹不如一蟹 Pronunciation and Pinyin
一蟹不如一蟹 Character Breakdown
Stroke OrderExample Sentence with 一蟹不如一蟹
Origin and Story of 一蟹不如一蟹
During the Song Dynasty, there was a scholar named Tao Gu, also known by his courtesy name Xiushi, who had a great fondness for crabs.
On one occasion, Tao Gu was sent by the imperial court as an envoy to the Kingdom of Wuyue, one of the Ten Kingdoms during the Five Dynasties period (covering parts of present-day Zhejiang, southwestern Jiangsu, and northeastern Fujian). King Zhongyi of Wuyue, aware of Tao Gu's preference, prepared a lavish banquet featuring over a dozen varieties of crabs, arranged from largest to smallest.
Upon seeing them, Tao Gu chuckled and said, "This is truly 'one crab not as good as the next'!" Originally, "一蟹不如一蟹" (yī xiè bù rú yī xiè) literally meant that each crab was inferior to the one before it. Later, this phrase evolved into an idiom, widely used to describe a declining trend where each successive item or situation is worse than the one that came before it.
Idioms Related to 一蟹不如一蟹
Synonyms of 一蟹不如一蟹
More idioms starting with 一
- yī一dīng丁bù不shí识completely illiterate
- yī一dīng丁diǎn点er儿a tiny bit
- yī一bù不zuò作，，èr二bù不xiū休Finish what you start
- yī一bù不zuò做，，èr二bù不xiū休in for a penny, in for a pound
- yī一bù不yā压zhòng众，，bǎi百bù不suí随yī一The minority cannot prevail against the majority
- yī一bù不niǔ扭zhòng众One person cannot defy the crowd
- yī一shì世zhī之xióng雄A hero of a generation
- yī一shì世lóng龙mén门A generation's revered influential figure
- yī一qiū丘yī一hè壑live contentedly in nature
- yī一qiū丘zhī之hé貉birds of a feather
- yī一sī丝yī一háo毫the slightest amount
- yī一sī丝bù不luàn乱perfectly orderly and neat
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Open the tool →Questions about 一蟹不如一蟹
What does 一蟹不如一蟹 mean?
一蟹不如一蟹 (yī xiè bù rú yī xiè) is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “Each one worse than the last”.
How do you pronounce 一蟹不如一蟹?
一蟹不如一蟹 is pronounced yī xiè bù rú yī xiè in Mandarin Chinese.
What does 一蟹不如一蟹 literally mean?
Literally, 一蟹不如一蟹 means “one crab not as good as the next crab”. It is used to mean “Each one worse than the last”.
Where does 一蟹不如一蟹 come from?
一蟹不如一蟹 comes from a classical Chinese story dating back to ancient China. The full story is on this page.
What is the Chinese definition of 一蟹不如一蟹?
比喻一个不如一个，越来越差。