📖 Meaning
To shoulder weighty responsibilities and endure arduous labor without complaint. It describes someone who willingly takes on demanding duties and bears the accompanying hardships with fortitude. The idiom emphasizes both the acceptance of heavy obligation and the patient endurance of the resulting toil.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom is a compound expression assembled from classical Chinese vocabulary rather than drawn from a single identifiable historical anecdote. The character 负 (bear) paired with 任 (responsibility) and 蒙 (suffer) paired with 劳 (toil) form a balanced four-character phrase typical of literary Chinese construction. Though no specific canonical source text is recorded for the complete phrase, its components are deeply rooted in pre-Qin usage — 负任 appears in contexts of official duty, while 蒙劳 echoes the Confucian ethos of enduring hardship in service. The idiom likely crystallized during the Han or later dynasties as a condensed expression of the scholar-official ideal of self-sacrificing public service.
💡 Example Usage
他多年来负任蒙劳，终于把公司带上了正轨。
Having borne heavy responsibilities and endured toil for many years, he finally put the company on the right track.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 负任蒙劳
- Pinyin: fù rèn méng láo
- Literal Translation: bear, burden, endure, toil
- Category: Perseverance
- Characters: 4