📖 Meaning
To boast of one's own achievements and abilities; to show off one's merits and good qualities. It describes someone who is extremely arrogant and lacks humility, constantly drawing attention to their own accomplishments.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom comes from the 'Biography of Duan Zhuo' in the Book of Jin (晋书·段灼传), a work compiled during the Tang dynasty. Duan Zhuo wrote a memorial to Emperor Wu of Jin describing Deng Ai, the general who conquered the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period. He noted that Deng Ai had a stubborn and impatient temperament, that he would boast of his own merits and abilities, yet could not cooperate with his peers and lightly offended both the refined and the common, thereby losing the goodwill of virtuous gentlemen.
💡 Example Usage
他为人谦逊，从不矜功伐善，因此深受同事敬重。
He is humble by nature and never boasts of his own merits, so he is deeply respected by his colleagues.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 矜功伐善
- Pinyin: jīn gōng fá shàn
- Literal Translation: boast of merit, brag of virtue
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4