Chinese idiom · 成语
朝三暮四
Meaning
To be fickle or repeatedly change one’s mind; originally, to change the presentation without changing the substance.
Character by character
Origin and story
Philosophical fableIn the Qiwulun (齊物論) chapter of Zhuangzi (莊子), a monkey keeper announces that the monkeys will receive three portions of acorns in the morning and four in the evening. They become angry. He then offers four in the morning and three in the evening, and they are delighted—even though the total remains seven.
The passage uses their changing reactions to explore how people become attached to distinctions in naming and presentation even when the substance is unchanged. The expression later developed the familiar meaning of being fickle or repeatedly changing one’s mind. In modern use it can criticize inconsistent plans, and in relationship contexts it can imply wavering affections.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
学语言最怕朝三暮四，今天学这个，明天又换那个，很难进步。
Constantly changing your mind makes language learning hard: studying one language today and switching to another tomorrow leaves little room for progress.
This example uses the modern sense of fickleness, which differs from the original fable’s unchanged total.