📖 Meaning
To cut off a portion from what is long and use it to extend what is short. It is used as a metaphor for taking advantage of others' strengths to make up for one's own weaknesses, emphasizing balance and mutual supplementation.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from the Warring States period work Xunzi, in the chapter "Discourse on Rituals" (《荀子·礼论》). The philosopher Xunzi argues that ritual (礼) serves to cut off from the long and extend the short, reducing surplus and benefiting deficiency. Through this regulation, ritual perfects the expression of respect and love and cultivates the beauty of righteous conduct. Thus the phrase originally described the balancing function of ritual and later came to mean learning from others' merits to remedy one's own shortcomings.
💡 Example Usage
学习中我们应断长续短，弥补自身的不足。
In our studies, we should draw on others' strengths to make up for our own weaknesses.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 断长续短
- Pinyin: duàn chāng xù duǎn
- Literal Translation: cut, long, continue, short
- Category: Method
- Characters: 4