Chinese idiom · 成语
杜鹃啼血
Meaning
Cuckoo cries blood; heart-wrenching sorrow.
Character by character
Origin and story
Legend and literary allusionA traditional legend links the cuckoo with Du Yu, the ancient ruler of Shu also called Wangdi. In the version summarized by the dictionary, he loses his kingdom and dies; his spirit becomes a cuckoo whose grief-stricken cries continue until it weeps blood. This transformation belongs to legend, not verified natural history or a secure biography of the ruler.
Bai Juyi uses the exact image in his Pipa Xing, pairing the cuckoo's bloody lament with mournful ape cries. Its force is poetic: a sorrow so consuming that it seems to wound the voice itself. Later writers use the phrase for extreme lamentation.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
她读到那封诀别信时泣不成声，令人想到杜鹃啼血。
When she read that final farewell letter, she sobbed so hard she could not speak, bringing to mind the cuckoo's anguished lament.
Highly literary and intense; unsuitable for minor everyday disappointment.