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Open the tool →刀下留人 (dāo xià liú rén) is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “an urgent appeal to spare someone's life, typically made when they are on the verge of being executed or facing severe, irreversible consequences; a plea to 'stay the execution' or 'hold the knife'”.
刀下留人 is pronounced dāo xià liú rén in Mandarin Chinese.
Literally, 刀下留人 means “Under the knife, spare the person”. It is used to mean “an urgent appeal to spare someone's life, typically made when they are on the verge of being executed or facing severe, irreversible consequences; a plea to 'stay the execution' or 'hold the knife'”.
为营救将被斩首的人而向主持或执行斩首的人发出的留人一命的紧急呼吁。