Chinese idiom · 成语
覆巢之下
Meaning
Under a toppled nest; no one escapes disaster.
Character by character
Origin and story
Historical anecdoteHou Han Shu (後漢書), volume 70, records an anecdote about Kong Rong’s children when their father is arrested. They continue their board game. Asked why they do not rise when their father is taken, they answer with a question: how could the eggs remain unbroken when the nest is destroyed?
The nest represents the larger household or structure on which its members depend. The fuller saying, 覆巢之下无完卵, uses that image to warn that the fall of the whole imperils those within it. It is a stark statement about shared vulnerability in the narrative, not a claim that every person in every crisis must inevitably perish.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
公司若倒闭，所有部门都会受影响，覆巢之下无完卵。
If the company closes, every department will be affected; none is safe when the whole structure falls.
Use the fuller proverb when stressing shared exposure to a larger collapse.