a turtle crawls into the stove pit: stifled and fire-bottled
Saying俗语俗語
Two-part saying歇后语歇後語 · Rarely used now
May offend: vulgar language
Meaning
Describes someone full of pent-up resentment who can't vent it. The word 王八 is coarse.
Wordplay
憋气 (biēqì) means both "can't breathe" and "to be choked with grievance", and 窝火 (wōhuǒ) means both "fire trapped in a nook" and "to be bottled up with anger".