📖 Meaning
The fur from a fox's armpits is tiny, but gathered together it can make a whole fur robe. It is a metaphor for accumulating many small amounts to achieve something substantial. It is equivalent to the idiom 集腋成裘.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from the ancient observation that the patches of fur under a fox's forelegs, though each is no larger than a coin, are the softest and warmest part of the animal. In the Spring and Autumn period, Lord Mu of Qin was said to have valued a single fox's armpit pelt, and later writers used this image as a metaphor for gathering small contributions. Commentators such as Shen Gao in the Qing dynasty employed the phrase to describe compiling a book from many scattered notes. Over time it became a standard expression for turning modest means into a great result.
💡 Example Usage
他每天坚持背十个单词，集腋为裘，三年后竟能流利阅读英文原著。
He memorized ten words a day; gathered like fox fur into a robe, three years later he could read English novels with ease.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 集腋为裘
- Pinyin: jí yè wéi qiú
- Literal Translation: gather, armpit, to make, fur robe
- Category: Perseverance
- Characters: 4