📖 Meaning
To be stingy and miserly toward others while enriching oneself. The idiom uses 'thin' (瘠) as a metaphor for stinginess and 'fat' (肥) as a metaphor for greed, describing someone who exploits others for personal gain.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the Ming dynasty play 'Record of the Epiphyllum Flower' (昙花记) by Tu Long (屠隆), specifically the scene 'Judgment in the Underworld' (冥司断案). In the play, the underworld judge examines the sins of the dead, noting that many committed offenses of greed and covetousousness—seizing and occupying others' property, enriching themselves at others' expense, unwilling to part with even a single cent. The phrase vividly captures the moral failing of those who impoverish others to fatten themselves.
💡 Example Usage
他靠瘠人肥己的手段发家致富，最终被人举报而身败名裂。
He made his fortune by enriching himself at others' expense, only to be reported and ruined in the end.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 瘠人肥己
- Pinyin: jí rén féi jǐ
- Literal Translation: thin, others, fat, oneself
- Category: Morality
- Characters: 4