📖 Meaning
Originally described movements and stillness perfectly conforming to proper standards, like identical measurements stacking upon one another. It later came to mean close imitation or repetition, following an established pattern without deviation.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from the 'Records of the Three Kingdoms' (《三国志》), in the Biography of Chi Zheng (鄐正传) of the Shu kingdom. The text describes an ideal state of governance where ruler and ministers cooperate harmoniously at court while the common people joyfully support them, noting that 'in movement they are like repeated compasses, in stillness like stacked squares' (动若重规，静若迭矩)—meaning all actions conform perfectly to proper measure. Qing dynasty scholar Ji Yun (纪昀) later used the idiom in his 'Notes from the Thatched Abode of Close Observations' to describe writing that imitates a model so precisely that not a hair's breadth is lost.
💡 Example Usage
他这篇文章与前作叠矩重规，几乎是同一套写作模式。
His new article closely repeats his previous work, following almost exactly the same writing formula.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 叠矩重规
- Pinyin: dié jǔ chóng guī
- Literal Translation: stacked squares, repeated compasses
- Category: Method
- Characters: 4