害群之马

害群之馬
hàiqúnzhīmǎ
idiom #24,326

Meanings

  1. 1 black sheep
  2. 2 rotten apple
  3. 3 troublemaker who harms the group
  4. 4 one bad apple

Examples

HSK 3
Tā shì bānjí lǐ de hàiqúnzhīmǎ, zǒngshì yǐngxiǎng biérén xuéxí.
He is the black sheep of the class, always disrupting others' studies.
HSK 7-9
Gōngsī lǐ de hàiqúnzhīmǎ bìxū bèi qīngchú chūqù.
The rotten apple in the company must be removed.
HSK 7-9
Yí ge hàiqúnzhīmǎ huì yǐngxiǎng zhěnggè tuánduì de shìqì.
One bad apple can damage the morale of the whole team.

Tips

memory
Literally: a horse that harms the herd. Picture one sick horse spreading disease to a whole stable - the idiom captures how one bad person can corrupt an entire group.
history
This expression originates from the 庄子 (Zhuangzi), the classical Daoist text. The original passage warns that even a single harmful element in a group can destroy the whole.

Stroke Order

害 hài
群 qún
之 zhī
马 mǎ