📖 Meaning
Refers to eating coarse, poor food made of wild greens and parched grain. It is used metaphorically to describe a life of poverty, frugality, or austere hardship, especially regarding one's diet.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from the Western Han dynasty text 'Wen Xuan' (Selections of Refined Literature), in Wang Bao's 'Sheng Zhu De Xian Chen Song' (Ode on the Sage Ruler Obtaining Worthy Ministers). The original line states that those who dine on pottage of goosefoot and parched grain are not worth discussing the flavors of the grand sacrificial feast with. It was later cited by Wang Tong of the Sui dynasty in his work 'Zhongshuo' (The Centered Sayings), where a disciple declines a gift of a cookbook, saying he has no use for it while living on such coarse fare.
💡 Example Usage
隐居山中多年，他早已习惯了羹藜唅糗的生活。
After years of living in seclusion in the mountains, he had long grown accustomed to a life of coarse greens and parched grain.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 羹藜唅糗
- Pinyin: gēng lí hán qiǔ
- Literal Translation: pottage, goosefoot, eat, parched grain
- Category: Lifestyle
- Characters: 4