Chinese idiom · 成语
一木难支
Meaning
One log cannot prop; a single effort is insufficient.
Character by character
Origin and story
Classical analogyA related image occurs in the Shenzi's Zhi Zhong chapter: the materials for a great hall cannot come from the branches of just one tree. The argument concerns government, whose survival and good order cannot rest on one person alone. This is an antecedent of the comparison, not the exact later idiom.
The Shishuo Xinyu also records He Jiao comparing the declining Ren Kai to a collapsing city gate that a single timber cannot prop up. The complete wording 一木难支 appears in later drama, including Zhang Jing's Fei Wan Ji. These traditions give the expression its sense of a burden or failing situation beyond one person's strength.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
活动只剩她一个人筹备，实在一木难支，我们都来帮忙吧。
She is the only person left organizing the event and cannot carry it alone; let's all help.
Emphasizes the need for support when a task exceeds one person's capacity.