📖 Meaning
To fall ill as a direct result of prolonged, accumulated overwork and fatigue. It describes a condition where years of sustained labor and strain eventually break down one's health, turning chronic exhaustion into actual sickness.
📜 Origin Story
The concept first appears in the Warring States period text Xunzi, in the chapter 王制, which contrasts the ruler's accumulated toil with the people's accumulated ease. The idiom later crystallized during the Ming dynasty in Feng Menglong's 东周列国志 (Chronicles of the Eastern Zhou Kingdoms), chapter 69, where the official 公孙归生, worn down by exhausting service during a siege, falls so ill that he cannot rise from bed while the city starves. The exact four-character form 积劳成疾 became widely used in later literature, including the Qing dynasty novel 镜花缘 by Li Ruzhen.
💡 Example Usage
他长期加班熬夜，终于积劳成疾，住进了医院。
After years of long hours and late nights at work, he finally fell ill from overwork and was hospitalized.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 积劳成疾
- Pinyin: jī láo chéng jí
- Literal Translation: accumulate, toil, become, illness
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4