📖 Meaning
To act shamelessly and make trouble without justification. It describes brazen, unreasonable behavior where someone refuses to acknowledge rules or reason and causes a scene to get their way.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom does not trace to a single classical text but arises from vernacular Chinese speech. It appears in Yuan and Ming dynasty vernacular literature and dramas, where it depicted ruffians and troublemakers causing scenes. The expression captures the image of someone who brazenly denies responsibility and behaves outrageously. Over time it became a common colloquial phrase for describing shameless, unreasonable conduct.
💡 Example Usage
那几个地痞恶叉白赖地纠缠着店主不肯走。
Those few ruffians shamelessly pestered the shop owner and refused to leave.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 恶叉白赖
- Pinyin: è chā bái lài
- Literal Translation: wicked, fork, in vain, deny
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4