变生肘腋 — Chinese idiom

Meaning

• lit. calamity in one's armpit ; a major coup happening on one's doorstep
• trouble or danger in one's own backyard

Character by character

• 变biànto change, to transform, to alter; rebel
• 生shēnglife, lifetime; birth; growth
• 肘zhǒuelbow, shoulder; to help someone carry a load
• 腋yèarmpit

Idioms sharing a character

• 一成不变 yī chéng bù biàn
• 不识时变 bù shí shí biàn
• 亘古不变 gèn gǔ bù biàn
• 俗随时变 sú suí shí biàn
• 千变万轸 qiān biàn wàn zhěn
• 民变峰起 mín biàn fēng qǐ
• 瞬息万变 shùn xī wàn biàn
• 穷则思变 qióng zé sī biàn
• 节哀顺变 jié āi shùn biàn
• 处变不惊 chǔ biàn bù jīng

Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3). Retrieved 2026-10-22.