📖 Meaning
Fierce, stubborn, and arrogant, refusing to submit or show respect. It describes a defiant and haughty attitude toward authority or elders. The phrase is equivalent to the more common 桀骜不逊.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom comes from 'The Surviving Works of the Two Chengs' (《二程遗书》), specifically the appendix 'Account by Disciples and Friends with Preface.' The Two Chengs—Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi—were influential Neo-Confucian philosophers of the Northern Song dynasty. The text recounts how, when encountering people with shortcomings, the masters would patiently guide and encourage them, fearing they might not reach their full potential. As a result, even those who were fierce, arrogant, and disrespectful would, upon meeting the Chengs, be moved and reformed in their hearts.
💡 Example Usage
他生性桀傲不恭，从不把长辈的话放在心上。
He is by nature fierce and arrogant, never taking the words of his elders to heart.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 桀傲不恭
- Pinyin: jié ào bù gōng
- Literal Translation: cruel-arrogant, not respectful
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4