盲人骑瞎马 — “To act recklessly or blindly without foresight or guidance”

Q: What is the Chinese definition of 盲人骑瞎马?

瞎子骑着瞎马。形容乱闯瞎撞，非常危险。

盲人骑瞎马 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to act recklessly or blindly without foresight or guidance”. Often leading to dangerous or disastrous consequences, akin to a blind person riding a blind horse. Literally, “A blind person riding a blind horse”.

Frequency

盲人骑瞎马 Pronunciation and Pinyin

盲人骑瞎马 Character Breakdown

Stroke Order

Character	Pinyin	Strokes	Meaning
盲	máng	8	blind, unseeing, ignorant
人	rén	2	human being, person
骑	qí	11	to ride astride
瞎	xiā	15	blind, random, futile, dud
马	mǎ	3	horse, big, large

Example Sentence with 盲人骑瞎马

他在做任何决策时都不做充分的调查和规划，简直是盲人骑瞎马，迟早会出大问题。

He makes decisions without thorough investigation or planning; it's like a blind man on a blind horse, big problems will arise sooner or later.

Origin and Story of 盲人骑瞎马

During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the renowned litterateur Gu Kaizhi was visiting Yin Zhongkan's home. Huan Xuan, son of Huan Wen, was also present.

The three were happily playing a word game, drawing lots and creating phrases related to the character '危' (danger/peril).

They came up with lines such as 'Washing rice with a spearhead, cooking with a sword-tip,' 'A centenarian climbing a withered branch,' and 'A baby lying on a well's winch.'

Then, someone else added, 'A blind man riding a blind horse, approaching a deep pond at midnight.'

Yin Zhongkan, who was known to be one-eyed, became very displeased upon hearing this.