饮鸩止渴

yǐn zhèn zhǐ kě

to quench thirst with poison: a remedy worse than the problem

Character by character

饮yǐn
drink

鸩zhèn
poisoned wine

止zhǐ
stop

渴kě
thirst

靠借新债还旧债，无异于饮鸩止渴。

Paying old debts with new ones is like drinking poison to quench your thirst.

Tone: negative (criticism).

Learn this in Lesson 105 · HSK 7–9: 蓝天与“双碳” (Blue skies and carbon goals)

A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.