







殃及池鱼 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to suffer harm or misfortune through no fault of one's own”. To be caught in the crossfire; to be collateral damage. Literally, “Calamity affects the fish in the pond”.
During the Spring and Autumn Period, a fire broke out at a city gate in the State of Song. Fueled by the wind, the flames spread rapidly. The city's inhabitants quickly rushed to the moat surrounding the city to draw water to put out the blaze.
The fire was eventually extinguished, but the moat's water had been completely depleted. Consequently, the fish living in the moat had no water left and all died.

Create PNGs with pinyin, highlight character parts or remove strokes
Open the tool →
Printable tracing sheets with a QR learning companion
Open the tool →
Choose character parts and animate their colors, together or in stroke order
Open the tool →
Chinese and English fill-in vocabulary worksheets
Open the tool →殃及池鱼 (yāng jí chí yú) is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to suffer harm or misfortune through no fault of one's own”.
殃及池鱼 is pronounced yāng jí chí yú in Mandarin Chinese.
Literally, 殃及池鱼 means “Calamity affects the fish in the pond”. It is used to mean “to suffer harm or misfortune through no fault of one's own”.
殃及池鱼 comes from a classical Chinese story dating back to ancient China. The full story is on this page.
比喻无缘无故地遭受祸害。