势如破竹
- Literal
- momentum like splitting bamboo
- Figurative
- To advance irresistibly, clearing one obstacle after another once the momentum has built and nothing can check it.
Where does 势如破竹 come from?
In 280 CE, the general Du Yu was commanding one of the Jin armies in the campaign against the state of Wu. After the first victories, some of his officers argued for halting the advance until the following winter, since the flood season was coming and they feared epidemics. Du Yu disagreed: the army's momentum, he said, was already like splitting bamboo — once the blade is past the first joints, the rest of the stalk falls open at its touch. He ordered the advance to continue, and the Jin troops took the Wu capital without meeting serious resistance.
Source (出处): 《晋书·杜预传》
How is 势如破竹 used? Two examples
- 我们队上半场势如破竹，连进了三个球。
Our team was unstoppable in the first half and scored three goals in a row.
- 新产品一上市就势如破竹，一个月卖了十万台。
The new product took off unstoppably the moment it launched — a hundred thousand units in one month.
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