📖 Meaning
To be ashamed to associate with someone considered vulgar or mediocre. It conveys disdain for keeping company with those regarded as socially or intellectually inferior, often reflecting pride or a refusal to lower one's standards.
📜 Origin Story
From Sima Qian's "Records of the Grand Historian" (史记), in the Biography of the Marquis of Huaiyin, set in the early Han Dynasty. The renowned general Han Xin was demoted from King of Chu to Marquis of Huaiyin and harbored deep resentment. One day he visited Fan Kuai, a general of humble origins as a former butcher, who received him with great reverence, kneeling to welcome and see him off. Upon leaving, Han Xin laughed bitterly and remarked that he never expected to end up keeping company with the likes of Kuai.
💡 Example Usage
他才华出众，耻与哙伍，从不与庸碌之人结交。
Outstandingly talented, he considered it beneath him to associate with mediocrity and never befriended the ordinary.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 耻与哙伍
- Pinyin: chǐ yú kuài wǔ
- Literal Translation: ashamed, with, Kuai, fellowship
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4