Chinese idiom · 成语
未雨绸缪
Meaning
To prepare before trouble comes; to plan ahead.
Character by character
Origin and story
Poetic imageThe image comes from Chi Xiao (鴟鴞), a poem in the Bin Feng (豳風) section of Shijing (詩經). A bird, whose young have been taken, pleads that its home should not also be destroyed. Before rainy weather arrives, it strips material from mulberry roots and binds the openings of its nest securely.
Choumou (綢繆) here describes close binding or repair. The later idiom takes the bird’s advance work as an image of preparation before trouble arrives. The source is a poem voiced through a bird, not a literal account of someone repairing a house roof.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
活动还有一个月，我们先未雨绸缪，把备用场地也联系好。
The event is still a month away; let’s plan ahead and arrange a backup venue too.
Preparation happens before a possible problem, unlike a repair made after a loss.