Chinese idiom · 成语
杀鸡儆猴
Meaning
Kill a chicken to warn monkeys; punish one to deter others.
Character by character
Origin and story
proverbThe proverb imagines killing a chicken as a warning to a watching monkey: punishment directed at one victim frightens a wider audience. The related wording sha ji hai hou occurs in chapter 53 of the late-Qing novel Guanchang Xianxing Ji, where a speaker explicitly presents it as a familiar saying and explains that the monkey is frightened when the chicken is killed. That attestation supports the warning metaphor, but does not establish a particular historical monkey trainer or prove a claim about animal behavior. Today it describes making an example of someone to deter others, often with a critical or uneasy tone.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
经理公开处罚那名迟到的员工，显然是想杀鸡儆猴。
The manager publicly punished that employee for being late, clearly intending to make an example of them.
Describes deterrence through an exemplary punishment; often implies harshness.