📖 Meaning
No one can be an exception. It indicates that everyone or everything falls within the specified scope, with nothing excluded. The phrase emphasizes universality and absolute inclusion.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from the 'Book of the Later Han' (后汉书), compiled by Fan Ye during the Southern Dynasties, specifically in the 'Biography of the Western Regions.' The original text describes how the tales of distant lands are so vast and bizarre that even the legendary debater Zou Yan's discourses on heaven and the philosopher Zhuangzi's allegory of the snail's horns cannot be excepted from this characterization. Over time, '概莫能外' came to be used independently to assert that no person or thing can escape a given rule or condition.
💡 Example Usage
这是自然规律，万物概莫能外。
This is a law of nature; nothing in the world can be an exception.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 概莫能外
- Pinyin: gài mò néng wài
- Literal Translation: all, none, can, except
- Category: Logic
- Characters: 4