📖 Meaning
Literally, tugging at the front of one's garment exposes the elbow, describing clothes so worn and torn that they cannot cover the body. It portrays extreme poverty and hardship. By extension, it also describes being stretched too thin, with insufficient resources to meet all demands.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom comes from the History of Ming (《明史》), in the biography of Liu Yingjie (刘应节), a Ming dynasty official who served during the Jiajing reign. In memorials on frontier defense he wrote, 'The border is long and the troops are few — like a torn garment where tugging the lapel exposes the elbow' (边长兵寡，掣襟露肘), describing how military forces were too sparse to defend the entire frontier. The Qing dynasty novel Xingshi Yinzhuan Zhuan (《醒世姻缘传》) later used it to depict a family reduced to financial straits. Over time it has been applied both to literal ragged clothing and to strained, inadequate resources.
💡 Example Usage
他失业大半年，积蓄将尽，日子过得掣襟露肘。
He has been out of work for over half a year; with his savings nearly exhausted, he is scraping by in dire straits.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 掣襟露肘
- Pinyin: chè jīn lù zhǒu
- Literal Translation: pull, lapel, expose, elbow
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4