一言僨事

Chinese

		one sentence; something to say; brief remark	to fail in something; to spoil something; to ruin something
trad. (一言僨事)		一言	僨事
simp. (一言偾事)		一言	偾事

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): yīyánfènshì

  (Zhuyin): ㄧ ㄧㄢˊ ㄈㄣˋ ㄕˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): jat¹ jin⁴ fan⁵ si⁶ / jat¹ jin⁴ fan³ si⁶

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: yīyánfènshì [Phonetic: yìyánfènshì]
    • Zhuyin: ㄧ ㄧㄢˊ ㄈㄣˋ ㄕˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: yiyánfènshìh
    • Wade–Giles: i¹-yen²-fên⁴-shih⁴
    • Yale: yī-yán-fèn-shr̀
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: iyanfennshyh
    • Palladius: ияньфэньши (ijanʹfɛnʹši)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /i⁵⁵⁻⁵¹ jɛn³⁵ fən⁵¹⁻⁵³ ʂʐ̩⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: jat¹ jin⁴ fan⁵ si⁶ / jat¹ jin⁴ fan³ si⁶
    • Yale: yāt yìhn fáhn sih / yāt yìhn fan sih
    • Cantonese Pinyin: jat⁷ jin⁴ fan⁵ si⁶ / jat⁷ jin⁴ fan³ si⁶
    • Guangdong Romanization: yed¹ yin⁴ fen⁵ xi⁶ / yed¹ yin⁴ fen³ xi⁶
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jɐt̚⁵ jiːn²¹ fɐn¹³ siː²²/, /jɐt̚⁵ jiːn²¹ fɐn³³ siː²²/

Idiom

一言僨事

1. a single word can ruin things

   • 一家仁，一國興仁；一家讓，一國興讓；一人貪戾，一國作亂。其機如此。此謂一言僨事，一人定國。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     一家仁，一国兴仁；一家让，一国兴让；一人贪戾，一国作乱。其机如此。此谓一言偾事，一人定国。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Book of Rites, c. 4^th – 2^nd century BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Yījiā rén, yīguó xīng rén; yījiā ràng, yīguó xīng ràng; yīrén tānlì, yīguó zuòluàn. Qí jī rúcǐ. Cǐ wèi yīyán fèn shì, yīrén dìng guó. [Pinyin]

     From the loving example of one family a whole state becomes loving, and from its courtesies the whole state becomes courteous while, from the ambition and perverseness of the One man, the whole state may be led to rebellious disorder; – such is the nature of the influence. This verifies the saying, "Affairs may be ruined by a single sentence; a kingdom may be settled by its One man."