棒打鸳鸯

bàng dǎ yuān yāng

(idiom) to cruelly separate lovers (esp. by family or societal pressure); to forcibly break up a couple against their will

棒

bàng

stick

打

dǎ

a semantically light, transitive verb that is combined with various grammatical objects to form compound verbs and verb-object phrases with a diverse range of meanings (e.g. 打傘|打伞[da3 san3] "to hold an umbrella", 打電話|打电话[da3 dian4 hua4] "to make a phone call", 打針|打针[da3 zhen1] "to get an injection", 打手套[da3 shou3 tao4] "to knit gloves", 打氣|打气[da3 qi4] "to inflate")

鸳

yuān

mandarin duck

鸯

yāng

used in 鴛鴦|鸳鸯[yuan1 yang1]