📖 Meaning
A single hair from nine oxen. It describes something extremely small and insignificant compared to a vast quantity. Used to emphasize that something is negligible or trifling in scale.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from a letter written by the Han dynasty historian Sima Qian titled 'Letter to Ren Shaoqing' (报任少卿书). Sima Qian had been punished with castration for defending a defeated general and wrote to his friend Ren An to explain his decision to live on despite the humiliation. He wrote that if he were executed, it would be like losing a single hair from nine oxen—no different from the death of an ant—so he chose to endure disgrace to complete his great historical work 'Records of the Grand Historian'. The phrase thus evokes the image of one hair lost among the coats of nine oxen.
💡 Example Usage
这些损失对大公司来说不过是九牛一毫，根本不值一提。
These losses are but a single hair from nine oxen to a large company—hardly worth mentioning.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 九牛一毫
- Pinyin: jiǔ niú yī háo
- Literal Translation: nine, cow, one, hair
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4