📖 Meaning
A metaphor for students who learned from the same teacher yet each developed their own distinctive school of thought. Like branches springing from one trunk but growing into separate trees, it highlights intellectual divergence stemming from a common pedagogical origin.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase comes from Li Ruzhen's Qing dynasty novel Jinghuayuan (Flowers in the Mirror), Chapter 52. In the original passage the author discusses how scholars' commentaries on the classics often differ—some because they hold differing views and select different materials, others because they were transmitted through different teachers, hence 'gòng zhī bié gàn.' The imagery is drawn from trees: though sharing a common branch, they grow into distinct trunks, symbolizing how a single lineage of teaching can give rise to multiple independent schools.
💡 Example Usage
他俩共枝别干，师承一人，却各自发展出不同的学说。
Though they studied under the same master, the two branched off on their own and each developed a different doctrine.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 共枝别干
- Pinyin: gòng zhī bié gàn
- Literal Translation: shared, branch, separate, trunk
- Category: Learning
- Characters: 4