人面獸心

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See also: 人面兽心

Chinese

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human face; person beast; quadruped heart; mind
trad. (人面獸心) 人面
simp. (人面兽心) 人面
Literally: “human face, beastly heart”.

Etymology

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From the Book of Han, concerning the Xiongnu nomads to China's north:

夷狄好利被髮左衽人面獸心中國章服習俗飲食不同言語不通北垂寒露射獵為生山谷沙幕天地所以外內 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
夷狄好利被发左衽人面兽心中国章服习俗饮食不同言语不通北垂寒露射猎为生山谷沙幕天地所以外内 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
From: The Book of Han, circa 1st century CE
Yídí zhī rén tān ér hǎolì, bèifà zuǒrèn, rénmiànshòuxīn. Qí yǔ Zhōngguó shū zhāngfú, yì xísú, yǐnshí bùtóng, yányǔ bùtōng, pì jū běichuí hánlù zhī yě, zhú cǎo suí xù, shèliè wèishēng, gé yǐ shāngǔ, yōng yǐ shāmù, tiāndì suǒyǐ jué wàinèi yě. [Pinyin]
The Yi and the Di [foreign, barbarian, non-Chinese] people are greedy and desirous of gain; they wear their hair down their backs and fasten their garments on the left; they have human faces but the hearts of wild beasts. Their ceremonial garments differ from those worn in the Central States [of China]; their customs and diet differ from ours; and our languages are mutually unintelligible. They dwell far away, in the cold, on the bare lands of the north, driving their herds in pursuit of pasture, and hunting with the bow and arrow in order to sustain themselves. They are separated from us by mountains and valleys and cut off by the desert. By these means did Heaven and Earth divide inner from outer.

Pronunciation

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Idiom

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人面獸心

  1. to be savage and cruel

Synonyms

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Descendants

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Sino-Xenic (人面獸心):