📖 Meaning
Describes a posture of complete submission and obedience, like an animal lowering its head and flattening its ears. Used to depict someone who is utterly compliant and yielding, with no hint of defiance. Equivalent to the idiom 俯首帖耳.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom appears in the Ming Dynasty vernacular story collection 'Stories to Awaken the World' (醒世恒言), specifically in the tale 'The Righteous Tiger of Dashupo Escorts a Bride.' In the story, when the protagonist Qin Zili approaches, the tiger kneels on its front legs, bows its head and flattens its ears, making sounds as if begging for mercy. The striking image of a fearsome tiger showing such utter submission gave rise to this expression for extreme submissiveness.
💡 Example Usage
面对上司的严厉训斥，他只能俯首弭耳，不敢有半句反驳。
Faced with his boss's harsh reprimand, he could only bow his head submissively, not daring to utter a single word of rebuttal.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 俯首弭耳
- Pinyin: fǔ shǒu mǐ ěr
- Literal Translation: bow head, flatten ears
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4