📖 Meaning
A metaphor for a worthless person who only eats and drinks but has no real ability or talent. Like its close variant 酒囊饭袋, it describes someone who consumes resources without contributing anything of value. The phrase likens such a person to an empty container — useful only for holding food and wine.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from 'Baopuzi: Criticizing Mi' (《抱朴子·弹祢》) by Ge Hong of the Jin Dynasty. In the text, Ge Hong comments that Xun Yu is barely someone worth talking to, but beyond him, the rest are like wooden puppets and clay idols — they look human but lack any real spirit, being nothing but wine jars and rice sacks. The Song Dynasty poet Lu You later used the phrase in his poem 'Self-Mockery' (《解嘲》), writing that even a wine jar and rice sack is better than a belly full of idle sorrow.
💡 Example Usage
他整日无所事事，不过是个酒瓮饭囊罢了。
He idles away his days doing nothing — nothing but a wine jar and rice sack.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 酒瓮饭囊
- Pinyin: jiǔ wèng fàn náng
- Literal Translation: wine jar, rice sack
- Category: Quality
- Characters: 4