📖 Meaning
To turn fatigue into rest and refreshment. It describes the strategic act of converting a state of exhaustion into one of ease and renewed energy, often through clever rotation or timing.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the Ming Dynasty military treatise 'Bing Jing Bai Pian' (《兵经百篇》) by strategist Jie Xuan (揭喧), specifically the chapter 'Geng' (《更字》). Jie Xuan observed that if one army forces the enemy to respond repeatedly to feints, the enemy's ease turns into exhaustion. Conversely, by rotating one's own troops so they rest in turns, fatigue is transformed back into ease — and rested troops can then strike decisively. The phrase was originally a principle of battlefield stamina management.
💡 Example Usage
合理的轮班制度能让工人们反劳为逸，保持高效产出。
A sensible shift rotation system allows workers to turn fatigue into ease and maintain high productivity.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 反劳为逸
- Pinyin: fǎn láo wéi yì
- Literal Translation: reverse, toil, into, ease
- Category: Method
- Characters: 4