假途灭虢 — “To borrow a path to conquer Guo”

假途灭虢 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to borrow a path to conquer Guo”. To use a pretext or trick to achieve one's ulterior motive, often by taking advantage of a third party or a situation. Literally, “Borrow path destroy Guo”.

Frequency

假途灭虢 Pronunciation and Pinyin

假途灭虢 Character Breakdown

Stroke Order

Character	Pinyin	Strokes	Meaning
假	jiǎ	11	fake, false, or holiday
途	tú	10	road, path, journey
灭	miè	5	extinguish, wipe out
虢	guó	15	ancient Chinese vassal state

Example Sentence with 假途灭虢

这家公司声称要合作开发新产品，实际却是想借此机会掌握核心技术，这分明是假途灭虢

This company claimed to want to cooperate on developing new products, but in reality, it intended to seize the core technology through this opportunity; this is clearly a 'borrow a path to conquer Guo' strategy.

Origin and Story of 假途灭虢

During the Spring and Autumn period, Duke Xian of Jin wanted to attack the State of Guo. He intended to borrow a path through the State of Yu, and to achieve this, he sent precious horses and valuable gifts to the Duke of Yu.

The Duke of Yu was greedy for wealth. His minister, Gong Zhiqi, advised him against it, saying, 'Guo is a close neighbor of Yu. Its demise will inevitably lead to Yu's destruction.'

However, the Duke of Yu did not heed the advice and allowed the Jin army to pass through. As a result, after Jin destroyed Guo, they immediately turned around and destroyed Yu.