hài qún zhī mǎ
害群之马
lit. a horse that brings trouble to its herd
fig. troublemaker, rotten apple, black sheep
字面：危害马群的劣马。
比喻：危害社会或集体的人。
“害群之马” means the horse that harms the herd, a horse whose makes the all the other horses unhappy. So, “害群之马” means someone who causes trouble for or brings shame on the group.
For example: “This kid is a right tearaway – he’s a real ‘害群之马’!”
In English, someone who causes their family embarrassment or shame is called a “black sheep”. For example, “He’s such a troublemaker! He’s the black sheep of the family.”
有一群马在原野间自在地休息着，但其中有一匹马总是捣乱，搞得大家都不开心，这匹马，就是他们之中的“害群之马”: 这个成语指那些在群体里捣乱、破坏大家团结的人。
在英语里也有类似的说法，那些让家庭或群体蒙羞的人，就被叫做“黑.”，“black sheep” 例如，“He is the black sheep of the family”。
Etymology: Black Sheep
A black sheep's wool cannot be dyed, and so is worth less than that of white sheep. Sheep were long ago bred for white wool, the black wool is from a recessive gene which still occasionally occurs. The figurative sense of an undesirable member of the group first occurs in the 18th century.
There is a nursery rhyme that first occurs in print in 1744 in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book:
Baa, baa, black sheep,
Have you any wool?
Yes, sir, yes, sir,
Three bags full;
One for the master,
And one for the dame,
And one for the little boy
Who lives down the lane.
【害群之马 Source】 ‘Is governing the world any different from tending horses? It is simply a matter of removing what harms the herd.’ The Zhuangzi (stories and maxims that exemplify the nature of the ideal Taoist sage), from the chapter Ghostless Xu (a dialogue with an allegorical figure).
Note that in the dictionary definition above, it is “劣马 (liè mǎ)” meaning an inferior horse, not an animal that is actively disruptive.
【出处】《庄子·徐无鬼》：“夫为天下者，亦奚以异乎牧马者哉？亦去其害马者而已矣。”
成语接龙：马到成功、马马虎虎、马不停蹄
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