📖 Meaning
To share sweet and delicious food with others while declining to take even meager portions for oneself. It describes someone who is austere with themselves but generous to others. The idiom praises self-denial combined with kindness toward those around them.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase first appears in the Han Dynasty historian Sima Qian's 'Letter to Ren Shaoqing' (报任少卿书), where he praised General Li Ling for sharing the best provisions with his soldiers while taking little for himself, thus earning their fierce loyalty. A related expression appears in the apocryphal text 'Xiaojing Yuan Shenqi' (孝经援神契), describing how a mother selflessly gives the finest food to her child while enduring scarcity herself. Together these sources established the idiom as a model of self-sacrifice and generosity toward others.
💡 Example Usage
这位老教师一生分甘绝少，把最好的资源都留给了学生。
This veteran teacher spent his whole life sharing the best with others while taking little for himself, leaving the finest resources to his students.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 分甘绝少
- Pinyin: fēn gān jué shǎo
- Literal Translation: share, sweet, refuse, little
- Category: Morality
- Characters: 4