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yīn 因 yē 噎 fèi 废 shí 食

因噎废食 yīn yē fèi shí

to give up eating for fear of choking; to abandon something worthwhile because of a small risk

Literally: because choke abandon eating

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Origin

From the Lüshi Chunqiu (Dang Bing): 夫有以噎死者,欲禁天下之食,悖 — banning all food because someone choked to death is absurd.

How to use it

Predicate; negative. Often 不能因噎废食.

Example sentences

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  1. 个别事故不应成为叫停整个项目的理由，我们不能因噎废食。
    Gèbié shìgù bù yīng chéngwéi jiàotíng zhěnggè xiàngmù de lǐyóu, wǒmen bù néng yīn yē fèi shí.
    Isolated accidents should not be grounds for halting the whole project; we must not give up eating for fear of choking.
    individual accident not should become call-stop whole project (attributive particle) reason, we not can because choke abandon eating
  2. 网络确实存在风险，但因此禁止孩子上网就是因噎废食。
    Wǎngluò quèshí cúnzài fēngxiǎn, dàn yīncǐ jìnzhǐ háizi shàngwǎng jiù shì yīn yē fèi shí.
    The internet does carry risks, but forbidding children to go online because of that is throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
    internet indeed exist risk, but therefore forbid child go-online then is because choke abandon eating

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