📖 Meaning
To have every move controlled by others, lacking any independence. It describes a person who submits to others' will and cannot act on their own judgment.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from a poem by Su Shi (苏轼) of the Song Dynasty, titled 'Sending Li Gongshu to the Capital' (送李公恕赴阙). The poem laments that one cannot spend one's whole life in the dust, bowing and rising at others' command like a well-sweep (桔槔, a counterweighted lever for drawing water). The well-sweep metaphor captures the helplessness of being mechanically directed by others in every action.
💡 Example Usage
他一生俯仰随人，从未有过自己的主见。
All his life he let others dictate his every move, never once forming his own opinions.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 俯仰随人
- Pinyin: fǔ yǎng suí rén
- Literal Translation: look down, look up, follow, others
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4