画蛇添足 (huà shé tiān zú)

The Chinese idiom 画蛇添足 (huà shé tiān zú) comes from an old story recorded in the Stratagems of the Warring States. In the story, several people compete to see who can finish drawing a snake first. One man finishes early and should have won. However, because the others are still drawing, he decides to add feet to his snake to make it look even better. Another person then points out that snakes do not have feet, so his drawing is wrong. Because of this unnecessary addition, he loses the contest.

The literal meaning of 画蛇添足 is “to draw a snake and add feet.” Its real meaning is to describe a situation where someone ruins something by adding unnecessary or extra details. It is used to criticize doing too much, especially when something is already good enough. Instead of improving the result, the extra effort makes things worse.

In everyday use, this idiom can describe many situations. For example, if a piece of writing is already clear and simple, but someone adds too many extra words or explanations, it may become confusing. This would be called 画蛇添足. In speaking, if a person explains something well but then keeps talking and adds irrelevant points, they may also be “adding feet to the snake.”

For instance, someone might say that adding an emotional sentence at the end of a well-written article is 画蛇添足 because it spoils the simple style. Or if a speech is already strong but the speaker keeps adding unnecessary ideas at the end, it can also be described this way. Even in design, a product that looks clean and elegant can be made worse by adding too many decorations, which would also be considered 画蛇添足.

Example Usages:

在文章最后加上那段感叹句完全是画蛇添足，反而破坏了全文的简洁风格。
Zài wénzhāng zuìhòu jiāshàng nà duàn gǎntàn jù wánquán shì huà shé tiān zú, fǎn’ér pòhuài le quán wén de jiǎnjié fēnggé.
Adding that exclamatory sentence at the end of the article was completely unnecessary and only ruined the concise style of the whole piece.

他的演讲本来已经很精彩，但结尾又补充了很多多余的观点，简直是画蛇添足。
Tā de yǎnjiǎng běnlái yǐjīng hěn jīngcǎi, dàn jiéwěi yòu bǔchōng le hěnduō duōyú de guāndiǎn, jiǎnzhí shì huà shé tiān zú.
His speech was already excellent, but adding many redundant opinions at the end was truly a case of gilding the lily.

这款手机的设计简洁大方，额外增加的花哨装饰反而画蛇添足，让用户觉得累赘。
Zhè kuǎn shǒujī de shèjì jiǎnjié dàfāng, éwài zēngjiā de huāshao zhuāngshì fǎn’ér huà shé tiān zú, ràng yònghù juéde léizhuì.
The phone’s design is clean and elegant; adding flashy decorations would be overkill, making users feel it is cumbersome.

Pronunciation