📖 Meaning
An inch of soil and a foot of ground. It describes an extremely small amount of territory or land. The phrase uses units of measurement (cun and chi) to emphasize how tiny the area in question is.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase appears in Guo Moruo's essay collection 'The Book of Feathers — Resistance and Awakening' (《羽书集·抗战与觉悟》), written during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Guo Moruo, a prominent modern Chinese writer and historian, used the expression to argue that the nation must not surrender even the smallest parcel of land to the enemy. While the idiom's components draw on classical units of length used since ancient times, its fixed form as a four-character idiom is attributed to Guo's wartime writings. It became a rallying expression for defending every bit of national territory.
💡 Example Usage
保卫祖国，寸土尺地都不能让给敌人。
In defending the motherland, not even an inch of land can be ceded to the enemy.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 寸土尺地
- Pinyin: cùn tǔ chǐ dì
- Literal Translation: inch, land, foot, ground
- Category: Determination
- Characters: 4