📖 Meaning
Willingly accepting an inferior or lowly position rather than striving for improvement. It describes someone who is content to remain behind others, showing either resignation or a principled refusal to compete for status.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom comes from the Qing dynasty scholar Yu Yue's collection 'Right Terrace Immortal Pavilion Notes' (右台仙馆笔记), in a story about a girl of the Yang family from Wuxi. In the anecdote, a person of humble station is reproached by an official, yet replies, 'You be your official, I be my beggar—what concern is it of yours?' and walks away without looking back. Yu Yue remarks that this person '甘处下流,' willingly choosing to remain in a lowly position, and calls them someone 'truly with a different kind of heart.' The phrase thus evokes someone who deliberately accepts a lesser place, whether from principle or indifference.
💡 Example Usage
他宁可甘处下流，也不愿与趋炎附势之徒同流合污。
He would rather remain in a lowly position than associate with those who curry favor with the powerful.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 甘处下流
- Pinyin: gān chǔ xià liú
- Literal Translation: willing, reside, down, stream
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4