豁出去

• Pinyin: huō chū qù
• Hanzi breakdown: 豁 = 谷 + 隺 (opening/sacrifice — breaking through hesitation); 出 = pictograph of a plant emerging from a pit (go out/emerge); 去 = 大 + 凵 (person departing, go away)

Meaning

To risk everything; to put everything on the line; to decide to throw caution to the wind and act boldly regardless of the consequences.

豁出去 is a common colloquial phrase expressing the decision to abandon all caution and commit fully to a risky course of action. It implies accepting whatever consequences come and being willing to sacrifice everything for a goal. Often used when someone has reached a breaking point and decides to act decisively. Similar in spirit to 'go for broke' or 'burn one's boats.'

Examples

1. 眼看比赛时间所剩无几，落后的球队决定豁出去，果断放弃防守，全力进攻，奋力争取扳平比分的机会。 With time running out, the trailing team decided to go all in, decisively abandoning defense and throwing everything into offense to fight for a chance to tie the score.
2. 他豁出去向上司直言陈述了管理层存在的严重问题，尽管清楚这样做很可能会使自己就此丢掉这份工作。 He went all in and spoke frankly to his boss about serious problems in management, even though he knew it might very well cost him his job.
3. 创业路上荆棘丛生，但她已下定决心豁出去，哪怕倾尽所有，也要将心中的想法付诸实践。 The road of entrepreneurship is full of thorns, but she had made up her mind to go all in—no matter the cost—to turn her idea into reality.

Usage Guide

Context: decision-making, risk, sports, entrepreneurship, colloquial

Tone: positive

Do Say

• 面对最后一轮谈判，他们意识到继续观望只会错失良机，于是一致决定豁出去，提出了一个大胆而具有突破性的合作方案，令对方始料未及。(Facing the final round of negotiations, they realised that maintaining a wait-and-see approach would only cause them to miss the opportunity, so they unanimously decided to go for broke and put forward a bold, groundbreaking cooperation proposal that caught the other side completely off guard.)
• 常规治疗都失败后，医生和家属商量，决定豁出去试一种仍在临床试验中的疗法。(After all standard treatments failed, the doctor and family agreed to take a risk and try a therapy that was still in clinical trials.)

Don't Say

• 豁出去 in formal or written Chinese — use 孤注一掷 or 不顾一切 in formal contexts; 豁出去 is colloquial and most appropriate in spoken language or informal writing

Origin & History

豁 (to crack open/sacrifice) + 出 (out/emerge) + 去 (go/away) — literally 'to crack open and go out'; idiomatically means to break free from hesitation and commit fully to a bold, decisive action

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal