📖 Meaning
To decline a request or appointment but fail to obtain permission to be excused. It describes a situation where one politely refuses something but the refusal is not accepted, so one must comply.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from "Zhuangzi: Heaven and Earth" (《庄子·天地》), a Daoist text from the Warring States period. In the passage, the Duke of Lu asks a man named Mian to instruct him, saying, "Please accept my request for teaching." Mian declines but does not obtain permission, so he proceeds to speak, though he remains unsure whether his words hit the mark. Over time the phrase came to mean declining a duty or honor but being unable to do so because the superior insists.
💡 Example Usage
推辞再三仍辞不获命，他只好应承下来。
He declined repeatedly but, unable to obtain permission to be excused, finally had to agree.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 辞不获命
- Pinyin: cí bù huò mìng
- Literal Translation: decline, not, obtain, order
- Category: Communication
- Characters: 4